During the Cassini-Huygens mission, scientists learned a lot about Titan, one of Saturn's moons. They found that Titan's atmosphere was quite different from what they expected. Here’s a breakdown of what they discovered:
What it's made of: Titan's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, making up about 95%. It also has some methane, which is around 5%. This is different from Earth's atmosphere, which has a lot of oxygen.
Air pressure: If you were standing on Titan, the air pressure would be about 1.5 times higher than what we feel on Earth. That means it would feel heavier, with about 147 kilopascals of pressure.
Methane lakes: Scientists found lakes full of methane on Titan. This suggests that there is a complicated system of water-like activities on Titan. This challenges what we thought we knew about how atmospheres work on other planets.
All of these discoveries show that we need to rethink what we know about how atmospheres form and how they work on different planets.
During the Cassini-Huygens mission, scientists learned a lot about Titan, one of Saturn's moons. They found that Titan's atmosphere was quite different from what they expected. Here’s a breakdown of what they discovered:
What it's made of: Titan's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, making up about 95%. It also has some methane, which is around 5%. This is different from Earth's atmosphere, which has a lot of oxygen.
Air pressure: If you were standing on Titan, the air pressure would be about 1.5 times higher than what we feel on Earth. That means it would feel heavier, with about 147 kilopascals of pressure.
Methane lakes: Scientists found lakes full of methane on Titan. This suggests that there is a complicated system of water-like activities on Titan. This challenges what we thought we knew about how atmospheres work on other planets.
All of these discoveries show that we need to rethink what we know about how atmospheres form and how they work on different planets.