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Titan's internal structure inferred from a coupled thermal-orbital model
Sotin, Christophe; Lunine, Jonathan I.; Tobie, Gabriel +2 more
Through coupled thermal and orbital calculations including a full description of tidal dissipation, heat transfer and the H 2O sbnd NH 3 phase diagram, we propose a model for the internal structure and composition of Titan testable with Cassini-Huygens measurements. The high value of Titan's orbital eccentricity provides a st…
Possibilities for methanogenic life in liquid methane on the surface of Titan
McKay, C. P.; Smith, H. D.
Photochemically produced compounds on Titan, principally acetylene, ethane and organic solids, would release energy when consumed with atmospheric hydrogen, at levels of 334, 57, and 54 kJ mol -1, respectively. On Earth methanogenic bacteria can survive on this energy level. Here we speculate on the possibility of widespread methanogeni…
An investigation of Titan's aerosols using microwave analog measurements and radiative transfer modeling
Kolokolova, L.; Gustafson, B. Å. S.; Thomas-Osip, J. E. +1 more
A combination of laboratory experiments, theoretical modeling, and spacecraft observations is employed to characterize the aerosols in the atmosphere of Titan. The scattering properties of model aerosols were measured using the Microwave Analog Light Scattering Facility at the University of Florida and complemented with theoretical modeling of sin…