Titan , Saturn's largest moon, is the only satellite in our solar system with a dense atmosphere , rivers and shallow seas, although the latter are made up of liquid hydrocarbons such as ethane and methane.
Until now it was believed that in this world , which has the highest planetary habitability index after Earth in our galactic neighborhood, only breezes blew , sometimes reaching 70 km / h – in the atmosphere, however, winds can exceed 300 km / h–.
However, a new study coordinated by Devon Burr, an expert in planetary sciences at the University of Tennessee, shows that these are much more intense than suspected, enough to explain in part the formation of the great dunes that dot Titan.
For six years, Burr recreated conditions on Titan's surface in an old NASA wind tunnel from data obtained by the Cassini probe. Thus, he found out that to move the dunes the winds must be at least 50% stronger than previously estimated .
What's more, although it was believed that these only flowed from east to west, for some as yet unknown reason, they can momentarily change direction and intensity . This occurs twice during each Saturn year, which is equal to thirty Earthlings. In an essay published in the journal Nature, Burr indicates that it is something so rare that Cassini could not detect it directly.
Photo: NASA
