Titan Flashcards
What is Jupiters rotation period?
9h 55m
What is Jupiters atmosphere made up of?
H, He, methane, ammonia, O, N, Sulphur
What is Jupiters upper layers divided into?
Dark Belts and light zones with zones colder than belts
What is the main active phenomena on Jupiters surface?
Great red spot
2-3x earth size
What is saturns rotation period?
10h 34m
What is saturns atmosphere made up of?
Mostly H
What happens to the H in Saturn moving inward?
Gets metallic as H starts sharing electrons
What is saturns upper atmosphere made of?
Layers of clouds made of ammonia ice, water ice, cold H and sulphur ice
What phenomena does saturn have?
Oval-shaped storms
What is uranuss rotation period?
17h 14m
What is unique about Uranus’s rotation?
Retrograde motion
Sideways tilted axis
What is Uranus’s atmosphere made up of?
H, He, Water, ammonia, methane ices, trace hydrocarbons
What are Uranus’s rings made of?
Extremely dark particles
What is Neptunes rotation period?
16.1h
What is Neptunes atmosphere made up of?
H,He,traces hydrocarbons and N
What phenomena occur on Neptune?
Active and visible weather patterns
Why can’t the gas giants support liquid water?
Too cold
Where are all the gas giants found?
Outside the circumstellar habitable zone
>2 AU
How many moons does Jupiter have?
67
How many moons does Saturn have?
62
How many moons does Neptune have?
14
How many moons does Uranus have?
27
What is the roche limit?
Smallest distance at which a moon can orbit without being torn apart by gravitational forces of the planet
What pulls apart a moon if its too close to a planet?
Tidal forces
What is the largest moon in the solar system?
Ganymede
What moon has more than 400 active volcanoes?
Io
What is the largest moon of Saturn?
Titan
What are the densities of moons like compared to Earth?
Significantly lower due to large amounts of ice which is low in density
What was the Pioneer 11 flyby of Saturn?
1979
Flew within 20,000km
Low resolution images
Found temp of titan to be 250K
What was the voyager 1 and flybys of Saturn?
First high res images of planet and moons
Found that Titans atmosphere was impenetrable
1980s
What was Cassini-Huygens mission?
Orbit around Saturn
Two Titan flybys
What makes Titan unique in the solar system?
Only satellite with dense atmosphere and evidence of surface liquid
When was Titan discovered
1933
What is Titans diameter?
5000km
What is Titans surface gravity?
14% Earth
What is Titans surface temp?
-180c
What is Titans atmosphere made of and its pressure?
N, methane
Pressure 150% that of Earth
What are the energy sources on Titan that could have warmed it?
Green house effect from thick atmosphere
Tidal effects leading to plate tectonics and volcanic activity
When was the atmospheric composition determined?
1982
What were the voyager results for the atmosphere and surface liquid?
No greenhouse effect
Surface temperature to low for liquid water
What did voyager find out about Titans density?
1.88 g/cm3
Must contain a substantial amount of lighter material
What can ice form from?
Water, co2, N, Methane, ammonia
Why is methane being detected in Titans atmosphere surprising?
Energy of sun should have converted all traces into more complex hydrocarbons
What does the presence of methane in the atmosphere indicate?
It is being constantly replenished by evaporation from the surface
Released from the interior
What is the methane cycle on Titan?
CH4 in lakes and oceans
Evaporates and UV light breaks it apart
Components recombine into other hydrocarbons and condense into liquid and rain down
What is proposed as the lake/seas on Titan?
Ethane from reactions in the atmosphere
Why is life unlikely on Titan?
Too cold so liquid water
Short supply of biogenically components
What were Cassini/Huygens Mission?
1997
Land probe on Titan
What did Cassini/Huygens observe in Titans atmosphere?
Thin detached haze layer that floated above main atmospheric haze
What happens in the outer layer of Titan?
Higher than 600km where UV breaks down methane and N to produce more complex molecules.
What happens in lower haze layer?
Small particles from outer layer collide to form larger particles that fall down to maintain lower main haze
When was the Huygens probe released?
2004
Sending data during its descent
What was observed at 8km by the probe?
Branching dark channels
Carved by liquid methane/ethane
Icy hills of 100m
What was observed on the surface by the probe?
Small objects - probably water ice
Evidence of erosion at base of rocks
What did probe find compared to Cassini orbiter?
Probe - no liquids in descent region
Orbiter - lakes in north polar region
What did Cassinis results conclude?
- Likely subsurface ocean 60 miles down
- Moons crust has moved over time - 30km
- Bulges in the crust indicating liquid beneath frozen surface
How is Titans landscape similar to Earth?
Lakes, dunes, rain
Who discovered Titan?
Huygens 1655
What was the first target of Cassini?
Phoebe moon
