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Science Forum Index » Geology - Meteorology Forum » NASA Study Shows Titan and Early Earth Atmospheres Are Simil
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 Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 7:14 pm |
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John Bluck Nov. 6, 2006
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: 650-604-5026 / 9000
E-mail: jbluck@mail.arc.nasa.gov
Adriana Raudzens Bailey
University of Colorado, Boulder
Phone: 303-492-6289
E-mail: adrianar@cires.colorado.edu
NEWS RELEASE: 06-81AR
NASA STUDY SHOWS TITAN AND EARLY EARTH ATMOSPHERES ARE SIMILAR
Organic haze in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon, Titan, is similar to
haze in early Earth's air -- haze that may have helped nourish life
on our planet-- according to a NASA Astrobiology Institute study
released Nov. 6, 2006.
Study scientists simulated both the atmospheric conditions of early
Earth and those of present-day Titan. Their study, "Organic Haze on
Titan and the Early Earth," describing the scientists' work, appears
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The principal
author is Melissa Trainer, a NASA Astrobiology Institute postdoctoral
fellow at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
"It's exciting to see that the early Earth experiments produced so
much organic matter," said Carl Pilcher, director of the NASA
Astrobiology Institute, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,
Calif. "An organic haze produced this way on early Earth could have
contributed to the formation and sustenance of life."
According to the study's researchers, their experiments help
scientists interpret observations of Titan's atmosphere from NASA's
Cassini mission, while also showing how a major source of organics
could have been produced on Earth billions of years ago.
The researchers reported that the aerosols produced in the laboratory
could serve as analogs for the observed haze in Titan's atmosphere.
The scientists also estimated that aerosol production on early Earth
could have served as a primary source of organic material to the
surface.
"This paper shows one of the ways in which the study of other worlds
can help us understand Earth," said Chris McKay, a scientist at NASA
Ames and one of the study's co-authors. "Titan has a thick organic
haze layer, and this work started out to understand the chemistry of
that alien organic haze. Then we realized that we could apply the
same approach to the organic haze on early Earth."
"We hope to determine how the organics were made and their chemical
nature," McKay observed. The scientists reported that when sunlight
hits an atmosphere of methane and nitrogen, like the atmosphere of
Titan today, aerosol particles form. When an atmosphere also contains
carbon dioxide, as in the atmosphere of ancient Earth, different
kinds of aerosols form.
The scientists used a special ultraviolet-light lamp to produce
particles in the simulated atmospheres, and measured the chemical
composition, size and shape of the resulting particles.
"It's somewhat similar to the smog in Los Angeles," Trainer
explained. "Today's haze on Earth is also created photochemically,
which means sunlight powers chemical reactions in the atmosphere.
However, the early atmosphere of Earth had different gases present,
so chemical composition of the early haze is very different than the
haze we have today. There also would have been a lot more of it."
To obtain images of Titan, please visit:
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/target/Titan?start=0
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