Search Publications
Energy Deposition Processes in Titan's Upper Atmosphere and Its Induced Magnetosphere
Hartle, R. E.; Dandouras, Iannis; Coates, Andrew +4 more
Most of Titan's atmospheric organic and nitrogen chemistry, aerosol formation, and atmospheric loss are driven from external energy sources such as Solar UV, Saturn's magnetosphere, solar wind and galactic cosmic rays. The Solar UV tends to dominate the energy input at lower altitudes~1,200 km but which can extend down to ~400 km, while the plasma…
The Origin and Evolution of Titan
Choukroun, Mathieu; Lunine, Jonathan; Tobie, Gabriel +1 more
Titan was formed as a regular satellite in a disk that was the outgrowth of the formation of Saturn itself. Unlike the Jovian system, Titan is alone in terms of its size and mass, notart of a system gradational in density and hence rock abundance,erhaps reflecting a smaller disk and greater importance of stochastic events during satellite assembly…
Mass Loss Processes in Titan's Upper Atmosphere
Johnson, R. E.; Sittler, E. C.; Smith, H. T. +4 more
Although Titan's atmospheric column density is about ten times that of the Earth's, its measured 15N/14N ratio suggests that considerable escape has occurred or that Titan's original material had a ratio closer to that of cometary materials. A number of active escape processes have been proposed: thermal escape, chemical-induced escape, slow hydro…
Titan's Interior Structure
Sotin, Christophe; Rappaport, Nicole; Mitri, Giuseppe +2 more
The goal of this chapter is to give a description of Titan's interior that is consistent with the new constraints provided by the Cassini mission. As the Cassini mission proceeds into its first extended phase, the data obtained during the nominal mission suggest that Titan is at least partially differentiated. An ocean would be present some tens o…
Aerosols in Titan's Atmosphere
West, Robert A.; Tomasko, Martin G.
Aerosols in Titan's atmosphere play important roles in the transfer of solar and thermal radiation, in Titan's heat balance, in forcing atmospheric dynamics, and as a sink for photochemical reactions. In this chapter we briefly summarize the history of our knowledge of their distribution and optical properties before concentrating in greater detai…
Geology and Surface Processes on Titan
Sotin, Christophe; Tomasko, Martin G.; Keller, Horst Uwe +8 more
The surface of Titan has been revealed globally, if incompletely, by Cassini observations at infrared and radar wavelengths as well as locally by the instruments on the Huygens probe. Extended dune fields, lakes, mountainous terrain, dendritic erosion patterns and erosional remnants indicate dynamic surface processes. Valleys, small-scale gullies …
High-Altitude Production of Titan's Aerosols
Young, D. T.; Lunine, J. I.; Westlake, J. +3 more
Measurements with the Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) and two Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) sensors, the Ion beam Spectrometer (IBS) and the Electron Spectrometer (ELS), have revealed the presence of a significant population of heavy hydrocarbon and nitrile species well above the homopause, with masses as large as several tho…
Composition of Titan's Surface
Barnes, J. W.; Brown, R. H.; Clark, R. N. +5 more
The Huygens Probe returned the first in situ data on Titan's surface composition in January 2005. Although Huygens landed on a dry plain, the Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GCMS) showed evidence of methane moisture in the near subsurface suggesting methane precipitation at some time in the past. Heavier organic molecules were not found to be…
Seasonal Change on Titan
Flasar, F. Michael; Lorenz, Ralph D.; Brown, Michael E.
Titan displays seasonal changes in the distribution of gas and hazes in its atmosphere, in the character of its methane clouds, and in its temperatures and winds. While Cassini has observed some of these changes in detail, some are observable from Earth, and the period of most rapid change may be just about to begin in the years after equinox.
Mapping Products of Titan's Surface
Barnes, Jason W.; Le Mouélic, Stéphane; Karkoschka, Erich +9 more
Remote sensing instruments aboard the Cassini spacecraft have been observed the surface of Titan globally in the infrared and radar wavelength ranges as well as locally by the Huygens instruments revealing a wealth of new morphological features indicating a geologically active surface. We present a summary of mapping products of Titan's surface de…