Through the clouds, dimly

 

The James Webb Space Telescope isn't only good at finding the oldest galaxies in the Universe.  It's also good at observing weather patterns on planetary moons that have atmospheres.

Of course, there aren't many of those, at least with appreciable atmospheres. In fact, there's only one moon in this Solar System with an appreciable atmosphere, Saturn's moon Titan.

So now it turns out that Titan has weather.

Webb and Keck telescopes team up to track clouds on Saturn's moon Titan

"By comparing different images captured by Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), we soon confirmed that a bright spot visible in Titan's northern hemisphere was in fact a large cloud. Not long after, we noticed a second cloud. Detecting clouds is exciting because it validates long-held predictions from computer models about Titan's climate, that clouds would form readily in the mid-northern hemisphere during its late summertime when the surface is warmed by the sun."

So, Titan has an atmosphere, and because it has clouds at certain times and in certain places, that atmosphere has weather.  Science!

Caption for the above:

"Evolution of clouds on Titan over 30 hours between Nov. 4 and Nov. 6, as seen by near-infrared cameras on the James Webb Space Telescope (top) and Keck Telescope. Titan’s trailing hemisphere seen here is rotating from left (dawn) to right (evening) as seen from Earth and the sun. Cloud A appears to be rotating into view, while Cloud B appears to be either dissipating, or moving behind Titan’s limb. Clouds are not long-lasting on Titan or Earth, so those seen on Nov. 4 may not be the same as those seen on Nov. 6. (Image credit: NASA/STScI/Keck Observatory/Judy Schmidt)"