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Related papers: Ethane in Titan's Stratosphere from Cassini CIRS F…

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Submillimeter emission lines of carbon monoxide (CO) in Titan's atmosphere provide excellent probes of atmospheric temperature due to the molecule's long chemical lifetime and stable, well constrained volume mixing ratio. Here we present…

The Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) Electron Spectrometer (ELS) instrument onboard Cassini revealed an unexpected abundance of negative ions above 950 km in Titan's ionosphere. \textit{In situ} measurements indicated the presence of…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2019-03-06 David Dubois , Nathalie Carrasco , Jérémy Bourgalais , Ludovic Vettier , Ravindra T. Desai , Anne Wellbrock , Andrew J. Coates

We have analyzed the complete Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) data archive of Titan. Our objective is to build global surface cartographic products, by combining all the data gathered during the 127 targeted flybys of Titan…

The Cassini mission offered us the opportunity to monitor the seasonal evolution of Titan's atmosphere from 2004 to 2017, i.e. half a Titan year. The lower part of the stratosphere (pressures greater than 10 mbar) is a region of particular…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2020-06-24 M. Sylvestre , N. A. Teanby , J. Vatant d'Ollone , S. Vinatier , B. Bézard , S. Lebonnois , P. G. J. Irwin

Cassini discovered a plethora of neutral and ionised molecules in Titan's ionosphere including, surprisingly, anions and negatively charged molecules extending up to 13,800 u/q. In this letter we forward model the Cassini electron…

We use solar occultations observed by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer aboard the Cassini Spacecraft to extract the 1 to 5 micron transmission spectrum of Saturn, as if it were a transiting exoplanet. We detect absorption from…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-12-09 Paul A. Dalba , Philip S. Muirhead , Jonathan J. Fortney , Matthew M. Hedman , Philip D. Nicholson , Mark J. Veyette

Aims: We investigate the composition of Titan's stratosphere from new medium-resolution far-infrared observations performed with the full range of Herschel's Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) (51-220 $\mu$m at a resolution…

In its decade of operation the Cassini mission has allowed us to look deep into Saturn's atmosphere and investigate the processes occurring below its enshrouding haze. We use Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) 4.6-5.2 micron…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2016-02-16 Joanna K Barstow , Patrick G. J. Irwin , Leigh N. Fletcher , Rohini S. Giles , Cecile Merlet

The Voyager 1 flyby of Titan in 1980 gave a first glimpse of the chemical complexity of Titan's atmosphere, detecting many new molecules with the infrared spectrometer (IRIS). These included propane (C3H8) and propyne (CH3C2H), while the…

We report the first spectroscopic detection of ethyl cyanide (C$_2$H$_5$CN) in Titan's atmosphere, obtained using spectrally and spatially resolved observations of multiple emission lines with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter…

Titan is regarded as a natural laboratory in the Solar System for studying atmospheric photochemistry and the abiotic production of organic molecules on cold small exoplanets. Since the end of the Cassini-Huygens mission, telescope…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-03-06 Rafael Rianço-Silva , Pedro Machado , Pascal Rannou , Jorge Martins , Anthony E. Lynas-Gray , Giovanna Tinetti

Of the C$_{3}$H$_{x}$ hydrocarbons, propane (C${_3}$H$_{8}$) and propyne (methylacetylene, CH$_{3}$C$_{2}$H) were first detected in Titan's atmosphere during the Voyager 1 flyby in 1980. Propene (propylene, C$_{3}$H$_{6}$) was first…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2018-09-13 Nicholas A Lombardo , Conor A Nixon , Richard K Achterberg , Antoine Jolly , Keeyoon Sung , Patrick G J Irwin , F Michael Flasar

Saturn's moon Titan possesses stratospheric zonal winds that places it among a sparse class of planetary bodies known to have superrotation in their atmospheres. Few measurements have been made of these speeds in the upper stratosphere,…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-04-16 Siobhan Light , Mark Gurwell , Alexander Thelen , Nicholas Lombardo , Conor Nixon

Infrared spectroscopic observations have established the presence of hydrocarbon ices on Pluto and other TNOs, but the abundances of such molecules cannot be deduced without accurate optical constants (n, k) and reference spectra. In this…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2015-02-10 R. L. Hudson , P. A. Gerakines , M. H. Moore

From orbit, the visibility of Titan's surface is limited to a handful of narrow spectral windows in the near-infrared (near-IR), primarily from the absorption of methane gas. This has limited the ability to identify specific compounds on…

A multi-decade record of ground-based mid-infrared (7-25 $\mu$m) images of Saturn is used to explore seasonal and non-seasonal variability in thermal emission over more than a Saturnian year (1984-2022). Thermal emission measured by 3-m and…

NASA's Spitzer Infrared Spectrometer (IRS) acquired mid-infrared (5-37 microns) disc-averaged spectra of Uranus very near to its equinox in December 2007. A mean spectrum was constructed from observations of multiple central meridian…

We analyze data from the final two years of the Cassini mission to retrieve the distributions of methane, ethane, acetylene, ethylene, and benzene in Saturn's upper stratosphere and mesosphere from stellar occultations observed by the…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-05-06 Zarah L. Brown , Tommi T. Koskinen , Julianne I. Moses , Sandrine Guerlet

We have searched for the presence of simple P and S-bearing molecules in Titan's atmosphere, by looking for the characteristic signatures of phosphine and hydrogen sulfide in infrared spectra obtained by Cassini CIRS. As a result we have…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2013-03-14 Conor A. Nixon , Nicolas A. Teanby , Patrick G. J. Irwin , Sarah M. Horst

A significant difference in Titan's ionospheric electron density is observed between the T118 and T119 Cassini nightside flybys. These flybys had similar geometry, occurred at the same Saturn local time and while Titan was exposed to…