Atmosphere of Titan
Thick atmospheric layers of Saturn's moon Titan / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The atmosphere of Titan is the dense layer of gases surrounding Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. Titan is the only natural satellite in the Solar System with an atmosphere that is denser than the atmosphere of Earth and is one of two moons with an atmosphere significant enough to drive weather (the other being the atmosphere of Triton).[4] Titan's lower atmosphere is primarily composed of nitrogen (94.2%), methane (5.65%), and hydrogen (0.099%).[1] There are trace amounts of other hydrocarbons, such as ethane, diacetylene, methylacetylene, acetylene, propane, PAHs[5] and of other gases, such as cyanoacetylene, hydrogen cyanide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, cyanogen, acetonitrile, argon and helium.[3] The isotopic study of nitrogen isotopes ratio also suggests acetonitrile may be present in quantities exceeding hydrogen cyanide and cyanoacetylene.[6] The surface pressure is about 50% higher than on Earth at 1.5 bars (147 kPa)[2] which is near the triple point of methane and allows there to be gaseous methane in the atmosphere and liquid methane on the surface.[7] The orange color as seen from space is produced by other more complex chemicals in small quantities, possibly tholins, tar-like organic precipitates.[8]
General information[1] | |
---|---|
Average surface pressure | 1.5 bars (147 kPa)[2] |
Chemical species | Molar fraction |
Composition[1] | |
Nitrogen | 94.2% |
Methane | 5.65% |
Hydrogen | 0.099% |
Argon | 0.0043%[3] |