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The dust environment at Titan

English, M.A., McBride, Neil (1995) The dust environment at Titan. Earth, Moon and Planets, 71 (3). pp. 265-271. ISSN 0167-9295. (doi:10.1007/BF00612968) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:19513)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00612968

Abstract

To explain the observed abundances of CO2 in Titan's atmosphere, a relatively high water deposition into the atmosphere needs to be invoked due to the importance of H2O photolysis in CO2 production. A Likely source of H2O is icy dust particles from space. This paper considers the direct dust input to Titan's atmosphere from the interplanetary environment, and also ejecta particles from micrometeoroid impacts with the icy satellites Hyperion, Iapetus and Phoebe. It is found that the Likely mass influx to Titan is 10(-16) to 10(-15) kg m(-2) s(-1). This mass influx is an order of magnitude too low to explain the observed levels of CO2 in Titan's atmosphere in the context of a recent photochemical model. This leads one to speculate as to the likelihood of one large impact to Titan in the recent past; i.e., that the atmosphere is not in equilibrium but is currently losing CO2.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1007/BF00612968
Uncontrolled keywords: Titan; interplanetary dust
Subjects: Q Science > QB Astronomy
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Depositing User: P. Ogbuji
Date Deposited: 02 Jun 2009 12:01 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:57 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/19513 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

McBride, Neil.

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