Tricarbon molecule (C3) is probably produced in Titan’s upper atmosphere by the reaction of abundant acetylene with atomic carbon.
This view of Titan is one of the last images NASA’s Cassini spacecraft transmitted to Earth before entering the giant planet’s atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.
Of the solar system’s more than 150 known moons, Saturn’s largest moon Titan is the only one with a substantial atmosphere.
And of all the places in the solar system, Titan is the only place other than Earth that is known to have liquid in the form of rivers, lakes, and oceans on its surface.
Titan is larger than Mercury and is the second largest moon in the solar system. Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is only slightly larger (about 2%).
Titan’s atmosphere is composed primarily of nitrogen, like Earth’s, but its surface pressure is 50% higher than Earth’s.
Titan has clouds of liquid hydrocarbons such as methane and ethane, rain, rivers, lakes, and oceans.
“Home to a thick and chemically diverse atmosphere, Titan stands out among the icy moons of the giant planets as one of the most thoroughly studied objects in the solar system,” said Lisboa Observatory and University of Astronomy. said Dr. Rafael Silva. of Lisbon.
“Titan’s atmosphere acts like a planet-sized chemical reactor, producing many complex carbon-based molecules.”
“Of all the atmospheres we know of in the solar system, it is most similar to the atmosphere thought to exist on early Earth.”
“Methane, which is a gas on Earth, provides information about geological and potentially biological processes.”
“This molecule cannot survive for long in the atmospheres of Earth or Titan because it is quickly and irreversibly destroyed by solar radiation.”
“Therefore, methane must be replenished on Titan by geological processes such as underground gas emissions.”
In the study, Dr. Silva and his colleagues UVES High Resolution Visible and Ultraviolet Spectrometer ESO’s Very Large Telescope.
They were able to identify 97 absorption lines for methane and one absorption line for the three-carbon molecule.
“Even in high-resolution spectra, the methane absorption lines are not strong enough for the amount of gas that can exist in a laboratory on Earth,” Dr. Silva said.
“But Titan has an entire atmosphere, and the path that light travels through the atmosphere can span hundreds of kilometers.”
“This allows various bands and lines that have weak signals in labs on Earth to be very obvious on Titan.”
“In our solar system, three-carbon molecules, which appear as bluish luminescence, were previously known only in the material surrounding the cores of comets.”
“The absorption lines in Titan that we have associated with tricarbons, although highly specific for this type of molecule, are small in number and low in intensity, so new observations will be needed in the future to confirm this detection.” will be done.”
“The more we learn about the different molecules involved in the chemical complexity of Titan’s atmosphere, the better we understand the types of chemical evolution that may have enabled or are associated with the origin of life on Earth.” You will be able to do it.”
“Some of the organic matter that contributed to the origin of life on Earth is thought to have been produced in the atmosphere by processes relatively similar to those observed on Titan.”
a paper The survey results were published in a magazine planetary space science.
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Rafael Lianzo Silva other. 2024. Study of Titan’s very high-resolution visible spectrum: Line characterization in visible CH.Four Search for band and C3. planetary space science 240: 105836; doi: 10.1016/j.pss.2023.105836
Source: www.sci.news
