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Why is Titan able to maintain an atmosphere, and not Luna? Ask Question. Asked 9 years, 4 months ago. Active 9 years, 4 months ago. Viewed 5k times. What have I missed? Does Luna's relative proximity to Sol make the difference? Improve this question. Community Bot 1. Everyone Everyone 4, 5 5 gold badges 35 35 silver badges 66 66 bronze badges.
At the surface of Titan, the atmospheric pressure is about 60 percent greater than on Earth—roughly the same pressure a person would feel swimming about 50 feet 15 meters below the surface in theocean on Earth. Because Titan is less massive than Earth, its gravity doesn't hold onto its gaseous envelope as tightly, so the atmosphere extends to an altitude 10 times higher than Earth's—nearly miles kilometers into space. Titan's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen about 95 percent and methane about 5 percent , with small amounts of other carbon-rich compounds.
The pieces of these molecules recombine to form a variety of organic chemicals substances that contain carbon and hydrogen , and often include nitrogen, oxygen and other elements important to life on Earth. Some of the compounds produced by that splitting and recycling of methane and nitrogen create a kind of smog—a thick, orange-colored haze that makes the moon's surface difficult to view from space.
Spacecraft and telescopes can, however, see through the haze at certain wavelengths of light outside of those visible to human eyes. And methane condenses into clouds that occasionally drench the surface in methane storms.
The discovery of a global ocean of liquid water adds Titan to the handful of worlds in our solar system that could potentially contain habitable environments. Although there is so far no evidence of life on Titan, its complex chemistry and unique environments are certain to make it a destination for continued exploration.
Introduction Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is an icy world whose surface is completely obscured by a golden hazy atmosphere. A 3D model of Titan, a moon of Saturn. A 3D model showing the surface of Titan, a moon of Saturn. This page showcases our resources for those interested in learning more about Saturn and Titan.
Saturn and Titan Resources. This page showcases our resources for those interested in learning more about ocean worlds. Therefore, the temperature decreases with inverse square root of distance. Kinetic energy of gas molecules is proportional to temperature, therefore speed of molecules is proportional to square root of temperature, and thus decreases with inverse fourth root of distance from the Sun. Saturn is a bit over 6 times more distant from the Sun than Mars.
Thus, the atmosphere of Titan should be about 2,5 times cooler, and the nitrogen molecules should be about 1,6 times slower than on Mars. The escape speed of Titan, however, is about half that of Mars.
Why does the atmosphere of Mars escape while that of Titan does not? Join Date Nov Posts 3, We think all planets and big moons start out with an atmosphere. There are 6 factors that help a planet or big moon retain an atmosphere.
Venus and Titan have 4 out of 6. Mercury 1 about the same as Mars. Venus 1 about the same as Earth 4 carbon dioxide 5 no nearby bodies 6 perhaps Venus can not replace it's atmosphere in the far future. The composition of Titan's atmosphere didn't quite match up with the types of nitrogen and other material found in comets.
Plus, the 5 percent of Titan's atmosphere made of methane raised another question: It reacts quickly to form organics that would fall to the surface, so how is it replenished? Those materials, present in the early solar system, could have built Titan as well. And, according to Miller's calculations, this type of organic material in comets, if it were at the core of Titan, could produce gases similar to the moon's atmosphere today.
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