Knowra Atmosphere of Titan Atmosphere of Titan Titan’s dense atmosphere is composed mainly of nitrogen, with methane and other trace gases. It supports methane weather and helps sustain lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons on the surface.
Methane cycle on Titan : The circulation of methane among Titan’s atmosphere, surface liquids, and subsurface reservoirs. It links atmospheric methane clouds and rain to surface rivers, lakes, and evaporation.
Nitrogen : A chemical element that forms most of Earth’s atmosphere and most of Titan’s atmosphere. Nitrogen is the dominant gas in Titan’s atmospheric mixture.
Christiaan Huygens : A seventeenth-century Dutch astronomer who discovered Saturn’s moon Titan in 1655. His discovery began the study of Titan as a distinct world.
Prebiotic chemistry : Chemical processes that can produce compounds relevant to the origin of life before biology begins. Titan’s nitrogen–methane chemistry generates complex organic molecules without known life.
Earth's atmosphere : The gaseous envelope surrounding Earth, composed mainly of nitrogen and oxygen. Both atmospheres are nitrogen-rich, but Titan’s is colder, denser at the surface, and oxygen-poor.
Titanian cloud : A cloud in Titan’s atmosphere, formed mainly from methane or other condensable hydrocarbons. Methane clouds are the visible starting point of Titan’s rain cycle.
Methane : A simple hydrocarbon gas with one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. Methane supplies Titan’s clouds, rain, and surface hydrocarbons.
Voyager 1 : A NASA spacecraft that flew past Titan in 1980 and returned detailed measurements of its atmosphere. Its flyby established Titan’s dense nitrogen atmosphere and obscuring haze.
Tholin : A reddish-brown, nitrogen-rich organic material produced by irradiation of simple gases in space. Titan’s haze contains complex organic aerosols related to laboratory tholins.
Pluto's atmosphere : Pluto’s thin, nitrogen-dominated atmosphere, whose pressure changes as surface nitrogen freezes and sublimates. Pluto shows how a nitrogen atmosphere can be far more tenuous and strongly tied to seasonal ice.
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