Other
Scientific paper
Sep 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008epsc.conf..894b&link_type=abstract
European Planetary Science Congress 2008, Proceedings of the conference held 21-25 September, 2008 in Münster, Germany. Online a
Other
Scientific paper
Saturn's moon Titan has a thick atmosphere that makes studies of its surface difficult due to a ubiquitous haze that scatters visible light. Toward the infrared, atmospheric scattering becomes exponentially less effective, but intense absorption bands, dominantly from methane gas in Titan's atmosphere mostly preclude observations of the surface except in what are referred to as atmospheric windows. Titan was once hypothesized to have global oceans of light hydrocarbons on its surface. After 40, close flybys of Titan by the Cassini spacecraft, however, it is quite clear that no such oceans exist. Nevertheless, there are features on Titan similar to terrestrial lakes and seas, and widespread evidence for fluvial erosion, presumably driven by precipitation of liquid methane from Titan's dense, nitrogen-dominated atmosphere. Thus there is strong circumstantial evidence for localized deposits of liquid organics on Titan. Using infrared spectroscopy we have gained a more direct understanding of the composition and physical state of the materials contained within Ontario Lacus. The data and analyses strongly indicate that ethane, in liquid solution with methane, nitrogen, and other low-molecular-weight hydrocarbons, is contained within Ontario Lacus. We report the first detection of liquid ethane on Titan, the first identification of any of the constituents of Titan's lakes, and the first strong evidence of the presence of liquids on any object in the solar system besides Earth.
Baines Kevin Hays
Barnes Jason W.
Brown Harvey R.
Buratti Bonnie
Clark Roger Nelson
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