Cassini Sees Methane Clouds in Titan’s Summer Skies

On June 9, 2017, NASA’s Cassini orbiter captured an image of methane clouds drifting in the summer skies of Saturn’s moon Titan.

Titan’s summer skies. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Compared to earlier in Cassini’s mission, most of the surface in Titan’s northern high latitudes is now illuminated by the Sun.

Summer solstice in the Saturn system (the longest day of summer in the northern hemisphere and the shortest day of winter in the southern hemisphere) occurred on May 24, 2017.

This image was taken with Cassini’s narrow-angle camera on June 9, 2017, using a spectral filter that preferentially admits wavelengths of near-IR light centered at 938 nm.

Cassini obtained the view at a distance of about 315,000 miles (507,000 km) from Titan.

The spacecraft is currently in its ‘Grand Finale’ phase, the final phase of its long mission.

Over the course of 22 weeks from April 26 to September 15, 2017, Cassini is making a series of dramatic dives between Saturn and its icy rings.

The mission is returning new insights about the interior of the gas giant and the origins of the rings, along with images from closer to Saturn than ever before.

The mission will end with a final plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere on September 15.