This image of Titan's atmosphere was captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on July 3, 2004. The orange color of Titan is shown roughly as our eyes would see it. A layer of haze, composed of complex organic molecules, is shown in purple in this image. The false-color representation of the haze layer, which hovers a few hundred km above the moon's surface, indicates that it was imaged in ultraviolet "light".
Click on image for full size
Image courtesy NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.
The Atmosphere of Titan
Titan is the only moon in our Solar System with a significant atmosphere.
Titan's atmosphere consists mostly of nitrogen, and is so thick that the atmospheric
pressure at the moon's surface is about 60% greater than Earth's atmospheric
pressure.
Titan's atmosphere also has a significant amount of methane. Bombardment of
the methane by solar ultraviolet radiation has produced trace amounts of numerous
other hydrocarbons. These organic molecules create several layers of smog-like
haze in the moon's atmosphere, obscuring views of Titan's
surface.
The Cassini spacecraft has observed clouds in Titan's atmosphere near the moon's
poles. Temperatures are so cold (-178º C, -288º F) on Titan that methane
is a liquid at the surface. Scientists believe that methane and ethane may
fall as rain and snow from the clouds in Titan's atmosphere onto its frigid surface. This
image shows the predicted structure of Titan's atmosphere. New results from the Huygens
probe will likely revise our knowledge of the structure and composition of Titan's atmosphere.
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