It's Not Raining Rain, You Know...

On Saturn's huge moon Titan, it rains methane. According to a recent study of images of Titan's surface taken by the Cassini probe, it rains lots of methane.

Cassini photographed Titan's south polar region in 2004 and again later in 2005. Where dry surface existed in the 2004 image, a rather substantial methane lake stood in 2005. In the interim, astronomers had observed heavy, roiling, thunderstorm-like clouds over that area. The conclusion drawn seems pretty obvious. Titan's atmosphere-- ten times denser than Earth's-- produces some real gullywashers.

Funding for Cassini runs out in September, 2010, but program managers are preparing to ask for a seven year extension. If Cassini continues producing data at its present rate, such an extension would be a terrific bargain.