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Saturn’s Moon Titan May be More Earth-Like Than Thought

Saturn’s moon Titan may be more similar to an Earth-like world than previously thought, possessing a layered atmosphere just like our planet, researchers said.

Titan is Saturn’s largest moon, and is the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere. A better understanding of how its hazy, soupy atmosphere works could shed light on similar ones scientists might find on alien planets and moons. However, conflicting details about how Titan’s atmosphere is structured have emerged over the years.

The lowest layer of any atmosphere, known as its boundary layer, is most influenced by a planet or moon’s surface. It in turn most influences the surface with clouds and winds, as well as by sculpting dunes.

“This layer is very important for the climate and weather — we live in the terrestrial boundary layer,” said study lead author Benjamin Charnay, a planetary scientist at France’s National Center of Scientific Research.

Earth’s boundary layer, which is between 1,650 feet and 1.8 miles (500 meters and 3 kilometers) thick, is controlled largely by solar heat warming the planet’s surface. Since Titan is much further away from the sun, its boundary layer might behave quite differently, but much remains uncertain about it — Titan’s atmosphere is thick and opaque, confusing what we know about its lower layers.

For instance, while the Voyager 1 spacecraft suggested Titan’s boundary layer was about 2 miles (3.5 km) thick, the Huygens probe that plunged through Titan’s atmosphere saw it as only about 1,000 feet (300 m) thick.

To help solve these mysteries about Titan’s atmosphere, scientists developed a 3D climate model of how it might respond to solar heat over time.

“The most important implication of these findings is that Titan appears closer to an Earth-like world than once believed,”

Let me move there. 

(via theblacktie)