[X] My Assistant

[exoplanet]

An interesting quote from the website: http://www.titanexploration.com


"But one can also suggest that those streaks are the outcome of a subsurface ocean with eastward currents that would create fractures or grooves in the icy crust of Titan. Hence, that would also explain, for instance, why the dark streaks have the same direction as most of the ridges in their environment."

The above is a great website resource btw. Just found it today. Since I have posted before that I do not believe that the features that we are seeing on radar are actual linear dunes - I was very excited to read that someone else may feel the same.

I mentioned before in prior posts that believe that the dark areas seen on radar and by Cassini are indeed oceans of methane with possible traces of ammonia and other hydrocarbons. The reason that we are not seeing any "specular" glints may be due to complex chemical interactions between the surface of any ocean and the atmosphere. A complex hydrocarbon "crust" my not be out of the question.

This quote interests me as well: "Titan's surface reflected no more than 15 percent to 20 percent at infrared light wavelengths. Light reflected revealed there are organic materials and water ice but also water ice laced with an unknown constituent."

What exactly is the surface of Titan made up of. Interestingly, acetelyne was not found (although it is found in the atmosphere). Where is the acetelyne ending up if not on the surface?

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

Benzene was also detected high in the upper atmosphere so it is quite logical that it should have rained down to the surface.  So where is all the acetelyne? 

Again, I suspect that it's been turned into acetylene polymers by now -- of which benzene is one of the most predominant. I think it worth noting, though, that when you actually look at the graphs of GCMS measurements in Hasso Niemann's Dec. 8, 2005 "Nature" article( http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/in...fobjectid=38427 , Figure 1c), it seems hard to rule out the possibility that the GCMS DID detect some acetylene -- or ammonia, or HCN. These are not mentioned in Niemann's article, which says only that ethane was firmly identified on the surface; benzene, cynaogen and CO2 have been "tentatively identified"; and that work to identify other surface constiuents is continuing.

It may be that the exposure of Titan's surface to solar UV over long periods explains the absence of all these, to the extent that they actually are absent -- it can break down NH3 very efficiently, and it turns both C2H2 and HCN into polymers.

[The Messenger]

These are not mentioned in Niemann's article, which says only that ethane was firmly identified on the surface; benzene, cynaogen and CO2 have been "tentatively identified"; and that work to identify other surface constiuents is continuing.

It may be that the exposure of Titan's surface to solar UV over long periods explains the absence of all these, to the extent that they actually are absent -- it can break down NH3 very efficiently, and it turns both C2H2 and HCN into polymers.

Looking at their GC fractions, it is unlikely that anything heavier than C2H4 was heated enough to lift it from the surface. I guess I could argue that it is not there - if there was enough heating to deplete the C2H2 in such a short time, there should be a few heavier mole fractions in the spectra.

For example, heavy hydrocarbons with mole fractions less than 100 p.p.b. may yet be identified in enrichment cell data.

Does this mean they have not completed the chromatograph data analysis yet?
There is nothing simple about the surface of Titan.

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

Hasso Niemann's "Nature" article: "Heavy hydrocarbons with mole fractions less than 100 p.p.b. may yet be identified in enrichment cell data."

Does this mean they have not completed the chromatograph data analysis yet?
There is nothing simple about the surface of Titan.

Well, since then we have seen the enrichment cell results (taken in the upper atmosphere) in Dan Harpold's Sept. 2005 presentation to the Harsh-Environment Mass Spectrometry Workshop ( http://cot.marine.usf.edu/hems/workshop/Wo...day/Harpold.pdf , pg. 18), and it very clearly shows hydrocarbons with different numbers of carbon atoms all the way up to an AMU of about 135 -- that is, the maximum range of the mass spectrometer. This meshes very nicely with the results from Cassini's mass spectrometer during its flyby. (We may be looking at polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons -- that is, clusters of linked benzene rings.)

[The Messenger]

(We may be looking at polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons -- that is, clusters of linked benzene rings.)

Also known as coal tars.

Buckyballs are highly unlikely - they do tend to form in oxygen-depleted nitrogen-rich environments, but at very high temperatures.