Our knowledge gained of Titan has drastically improved since the early 1980s when Voyager flew past it. Titan is Saturn’s largest moon and the second largest moon of our solar system. It has a diameter estimated roughly 40% of Earth’s moon (Titan’s Radius: 2576, Moon’s Radius: 1737) and is 80% more massive (Titan’s Mass: 1.35 x 10^23 kg, Moon’s Mass: 7.35 x 10^22 kg. Titan has a atmospheric surface pressure 50% more than of Earth’s. In addition to that, Titan is the only moon to have a dense atmosphere. Titan’s atmosphere has been calculated to be 4.5 times more dense than of Earth’s atmosphere, which can been clearly noted by the layers of haze seen. The atmosphere in Titan is approximately 1.5km and is mainly composed of nitrogen. Titan has a very similar vertical atmospheric structure to earth, Titan has a troposphere temperature of ~94-~70K, a tropopause temperature of 70.4K and a stratosphere temperature of ~70-175K.
In regards of greenhouse gasses in Titan’s atmosphere, Methane makes a very capable and effective greenhouse gas . Methane, which is transparent in UV and visible spectral regions, displays absorption bands which complements Titan’s infrared emission spectrum. The cycle of methane on Titan is still a mystery and needs further research gain more understanding, however it seems to be very similar to of water on Earth. Also another efficient greenhouse gas is Molecular hydrogen, which also absorbs the infrared and enact a similar role to Methane. Many answered questions was aided by the Cassini Huygens mission which was developed by NASA and ESA. In Titan’s atmospheric pressure-temperature conditions, it is possible to condense methane but not possible to condense molecular hydrogen. Thus, on Titan, methane and ...
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... Titan, researchers have already detected an active organic chemistry in the gas phase with a large amount of organic compounds in the high stratosphere; while the chemistry in the high stratosphere is in the gas phase, chemistry in the lower atmosphere are mainly in the condensed phase.
Titan’s temperature has been measured to be extremely cold, in spite of that, liquid water is still present on Titan’s surface. When a coment strikes a moon, episodic events as long as 1000 years of liquid water; thus short terrestrial prebiotic synthesys will be able to occur because of the conditions given. Another potential candidate for prebiotic chemistry in water is Cryovolcanism.
An effective way of converting simple organics into complex molecules and reprocess chondritic organic matter into prebiotic compounds may be possible due to Titan’s water-ammonia oceans.
Saturn Saturn, one of the four gas planets in the solar system, is no doubt the most mysterious. The puzzling questions about this extraordinary planet has had scientists wondering and researching since it was first discovered. Now that NASA has sent missions to Saturn, we are starting to understand more and more. Saturn is a unique planet because of its magnificent size, its rare atmosphere, and several rings unlike any other planet.
While it can be found on Earth in a natural state, quantities are very low, no higher than 0.000137%. The moon has large quantities of Helium-3, as current analyses indicate that there are at least 1 million metric tons embedded in the lunar surface. About half the Helium-3 is deposited in a portion of about 20% of th...
A new moon was discovered for Uranus that had previously been overlooked for 13 years. As of 1999 this discovery brought the total of Uranus’s satellites to 18.
Within our Solar System lies an abundance of planets, each with their own unique characteristics, including the Terrestrial planets of Venus, Earth, and Mars who vary in many aspects but, most importantly, their atmosphere.
Jupiter has many moons, Sixty-seven actually. There are only four moons that scientists are very interested on. These four moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. The reasons scientists are so interested in these moons are since they might have found evidence of small life forms, such as bacteria and planets on these moons. The moon Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system. It would be interesting to find life on these planets.
Given that, the breakdown of methane in an oxygen-rich atmosphere creates carbon monoxide, along with water vapor, and infrared radiation. However, carbon monoxide is not stable and will become carbon dioxide, in a short amount of time. Additionally, this process releases more infrared radiation. Infrared radiation, for the most part, is invisible and comes off as heat; you can experiment with this by putting
Right alongside the fifth and largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, orbits a moon only about the same size as Earth’s moon. On this moon, is an icy surface that scientists are trying to uncover. Due to the presence of what they believe to be water, there is the possibility of life on this moon named Europa.
Saturn cannot support life but some of the moons might support humans and some can provided valuable information about our planet and solar systems past. Most moons are ice chucks less than 10 km in diameter but some moons like Titan and Tethys. Titan the largest moon of Saturn and the second largest in the solar system is the only moon that humans know about that has an atmosphere and clouds made of most nitrogen. The diameter of Titan is 5,150 km just under by 120 km to the largest moon humans know called Ganymede. The surface of Titan is composed of mostly hydrocarbons, ice and maybe methane and ammonia ice. There were ice volcanoes discovered on the surface from Huygens. There are lake and possibly rain and wind in a form of liquid methane and lots of dunes made of sand. Titan can give us a glimpse of what our planet looked like before evolution. Tethys is the same density of water and has a diameter of 1066. The moon rotates in a circular orbit of 294,660 km away from Saturn and is primarily pure water ice. There are two primary features of Tethys one being the Ithaca Chasma and the crater Odysseus. The Ithaca Chasma was created early in the life of the moon when the water expanded creating the chasm that makes up three quarter of the surface. The Odysseus crater is one of many crater impacts on the surface and this one measure 400 km across and contains a central
Halocline water formed and led Klein, covers about 2.7 million years ago. In the depths of a deep rich Arctic halocline face of rising carbon dioxide barrier created by the rising block. "Leakage" of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the planet cool -trapping heat cleansed.
Tethys is a medium sized moon that is made mostly of water ice. It is a pretty normal moon,
First is a description of the greenhouse effect. The earth’s atmosphere has four layers, or zones, with each having distinct differences in temperature. The troposphere is the first layer surrounding the earth. Within this layer air is continually circulating and moving heat and moisture around the earth. The troposphere is denser than the other layers due to the fact that gravity keeps the majority of air molecules near the earth. This is about 75 percent of all the atmospheric mass. It is also the warmest layer (Cunningham & Cunningham, ...
Packaging can be improved, a customer complained that his spray nozzle broke both the times he bought the product.
Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (15), as its four hydrogen bonds absorb more infrared radiation than carbon dioxide, thus having a greater and instantaneous contribution to the enhanced greenhouse effect. However, methane has an atmospheric life of approximately 12 years (15), compared to a much longer duration for carbon dioxide. Methane’s shorter life is defined by its ability to react with hydroxyl radicals (15) in the atmosphere, in turn being converted into water and carbon dioxide (FIGURE 1). Methane gas is also able to react with halogens in the atmosphere, via a process known as free radical halogenation, where ultraviolet light breaks the bonds in diatomic halogens, thus attracting the hydrogen atoms
The gas giants are a collection of planets in our solar system. As can be told from their name, they are mostly composed of differing mixtures of gases and ices. The gas and ice composition in question varies among the different planets. This mix of gases gives much of the planets an extremely thick atmosphere. At the very center of a gas giant is a core of liquid heavy metals. The gas giants are also called Jovian planets, taken from the largest planet in our solar system: Jupiter. Due to the fact the the majority of a gas giant planet is gas, the planet isn’t very dense and therefore, very large as a result. In fact, all of the gas giants are vastly larger than all of the terrestrial planets. Another common factor of the gas giants are their large amount of moons. The terrestrial planet, Mars, has the largest amount of moons, 2. The amount of moons of Mars is dwarfed in comparison to Saturn’s and Jupiter’s moo...
The gravitational forces between the Earth and the moon cause some interesting effects; tides are the most obvious. The moon has no atmosphere, but there is evidence by the United States Department of Defense Clementine spacecraft shows that there maybe water ice in some deep craters near the moon's North and South Pole that are permanently shaded. Most of the moon's surface is covered with regolith, which is a mixture of fine dust and rocky debris produced by meteor impact. There are two types of terrain on the moon. One is the heavily cratered and very old highlands. The other is the relatively smooth and younger craters that were flooded with molten lava.