Titan a Moon with an Atmosphere
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TITAN A MOON WITH AN ATMOSPHERE Ashley Gilliam Earth 450 – Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn 4/29/13 SATURN HAS > 60 SATELLITES, WHY TITAN? Is the only satellite with a dense atmosphere Has a nitrogen-rich atmosphere resembles Earth’s Is the only world besides Earth with a liquid on its surface • Possible habitable world Based on its size… Titan " a planet in its o# $ght! R = 6371 km R = 2576 km R = 1737 km Ch$%iaan Huy&ns (1629-1695) DISCOVERY OF TITAN Around 1650, Huygens began building telescopes with his brother Constantijn On March 25, 1655 Huygens discovered Titan in an attempt to study Saturn’s rings Named the moon Saturni Luna (“Saturns Moon”) Not properly named until the mid-1800’s THE DISCOVERY OF TITAN’S ATMOSPHERE Not much more was learned about Titan until the early 20th century In 1903, Catalan astronomer José Comas Solà claimed to have observed limb darkening on Titan, which requires the presence of an atmosphere Gerard P. Kuiper (1905-1973) José Comas Solà (1868-1937) This was confirmed by Gerard Kuiper in 1944 Image Credit: Ralph Lorenz Voyager 1 Launched September 5, 1977 M"sions to Titan Pioneer 11 Launched April 6, 1973 Cassini-Huygens Images: NASA Launched October 15, 1997 Pioneer 11 Could not penetrate Titan’s Atmosphere! Image Credit: NASA Vo y a &r 1 Image Credit: NASA Vo y a &r 1 What did we learn about the Atmosphere? • Composition (N2, CH4, & H2) • Variation with latitude (homogeneously mixed) • Temperature profile Mesosphere • Pressure profile Stratosphere Troposphere Image Credit: Fulchignoni, et al., 2005 Image Credit: Conway et al. 2003 What is the main similarity between Earth’s atmosphere and Titan’s? From Conway et al. 2003 Credit: C. P. McKay M = P P = atmospheric pressure g g = gravitaonal acceleraon Titan: N kg 1 Pa = 1 = 1 m2 m s2 P = 1.5 bar = 1.5×105 Pa ! g = 1.35 m s-2 M = 1.1 × 105 kg m-2 The column mass is greater on Titan. More substan2al atmosphere. Earth: P = 1 bar = 1×105 Pa g = 9.78 m s-2 M = 1.0 × 104 kg m-2 Casini-Huy&ns RADAR-SAR instrument was able to penetrate Titan’s thick veil of haze Pre-Cassini Cassini Image Credit: NASA Image Credit: NASA (e Huy&ns Probe • Goals of the mission: • Collect aerosols for chemical analysis • Make spectral measurements and take pictures of Titan’s surface and atmosphere • Measure wind speeds • Identify composition of the atmosphere • Measure the physical properties of the atmosphere • Determine the physical state, topography, and composition of the surface The Huygens probe separated( from thee Cassini Huy orbiter on& Decemberns Probe 25, 2004 Took 148 minutes to descend through the atmosphere Was prepared to touch down on land or liquid Based on the pictures taken by Cassini 1,200 km away, the landing site appeared to resemble a shoreline HUYGENS LANDING SITE Landed January 14, 2005 at 10.2°S, 192.4°W Discovered small “rocks”, possibly made of water ice, at the landing site. Fluvial activity (methane?) Images taken during descent showed no open areas of liquid, but indicated liquid had once flowed Titan Earth Image Credit: NASA POSSIBLE SHORELINE 100 km LAKES ON TITAN Image Credit: NASA Titan: Ligeia Mare Earth: Lake Superior Image Credit: William Hubbard, UA LPL AN ALIEN ENVIRONMENT TITAN EARTH Surface Liquid: Liquid methane & ethane Water Surface: Ice Rock Surface Composition: Hydrocarbons Dirt Titan’s South Pole Clouds over a five hour period Credit: C. P. McKay Credit: C. P. McKay COMPARING TITAN AND EARTH Property Titan Earth Gravity 1/7 1 Pressure 1.5 atm 1 atm Atmosphere N2, CH4 N2, O2 ,CO2 Clouds & Rain CH4, C2H6 H2O Greenhouse N2, CH4, H2 CO2, H2O Temperature -180oC +15oC Rotation 16 days 1 day Solar Orbit 30 years 1 year Habitability of Titan Titan = 0.64 Mars = 0.59 Gliese 581d = 0.43 Credit: Popular Science Future M"sions Aerial Vehicle for In-Situ and Airborne Titan Reconnaissance (AVIATR) Titan Saturn System Mission (TSSM) Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) .