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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 of a planet 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]
Mosaic of three Huygens images of channel system on Titan. The possibility of hydrocarbon seas on Titan was first suggested based on Voyager 1 and 2 data that showed Titan to have a thick atmosphere of approximately the correct temperature and composition to support them, but direct evidence was not obtained until 1995 when data from Hubble and other observations suggested the existence of ...
Christiaan Huygens discovered Titan in 1655.. The Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovered Titan on March 25, 1655. [16] [17] [18] Fascinated by Galileo's 1610 discovery of Jupiter's four largest moons and his advancements in telescope technology, Huygens, with the help of his elder brother Constantijn Huygens Jr., began building telescopes around 1650 and discovered the first observed ...
In September 2006, Cassini imaged a large cloud at a height of 40 km over Titan's north pole. Although methane is known to condense in Titan's atmosphere, the cloud was more likely to be ethane, as the detected size of the particles was only 1–3 micrometers and ethane can also freeze at these altitudes
The atmosphere is 94.2% nitrogen, 5.65% methane, and 0.099% hydrogen, [33] with the remaining 1.6% composed of other gases such as hydrocarbons (including ethane, diacetylene, methylacetylene, cyanoacetylene, acetylene, propane), argon, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, cyanogen, hydrogen cyanide and helium.
Because the tidal period - Titan's day - is long, 16 Earth days, the tidal cycle is slow, so the tidal currents are generally weak," said planetary scientist and study co-author Ralph Lorenz of ...
Latitudinal pressure gradients established from measurements taken by Voyager IRIS were sufficient to produce super-rotation of the atmosphere. [4] Stratospheric zonal winds on Titan were observed on the order of 100-200 m s −1, [5] faster than the highest zonal winds on Earth at ~60-70 m s −1. Questions on the effect of obliquity in super ...
An hour and 45 minutes later, the submersible's support ship lost contact with the Titan. At 3 p.m., the Titan failed to surface, and the frantic search and rescue operation that ensued transfixed ...