Has Cassini found a universal driver for prebiotic chemistry at Titan?
From ESA
The international Cassini-Huygens mission has made a surprising detection of a molecule that is instrumental in the production of complex organics within the hazy atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan.Read more here: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Cassini-Huygens/Has_Cassini_found_a_universal_driver_for_prebiotic_chemistry_at_TitanTitan boasts a thick nitrogen and methane atmosphere with some of the most complex chemistry seen in the Solar System. It is even thought to mimic the atmosphere of early Earth, before the build-up of oxygen. As such, Titan can be seen as a planet-scale laboratory that can be studied to understand the chemical reactions that may have led to life on Earth, and that could be occurring on planets around other stars.
In Titan’s upper atmosphere, nitrogen and methane are exposed to energy from sunlight and energetic particles in Saturn’s magnetosphere. These energy sources drive reactions involving nitrogen, hydrogen and carbon, which lead to more complicated prebiotic compounds.
These large molecules drift down towards the lower atmosphere, forming a thick haze of organic aerosols, and are thought to eventually reach the surface. But the process by which simple molecules in the upper atmosphere are transformed into the complex organic haze at lower altitudes is complicated and difficult to determine.
Chemistry in Titan’s atmosphere
One surprising outcome of the Cassini mission was the discovery of a particular type of negatively charged molecule at Titan. Negatively charged species – or ‘anions’ – were not something scientists expected to find, because they are highly reactive and should not last long in Titan’s atmosphere before combining with other materials. Their detection is completely reshaping current understanding of the hazy moon’s atmosphere.In a new study published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, scientists identified some of the negatively charged species as what are known as ‘carbon chain anions’. These linear molecules are understood to be building blocks towards more complex molecules, and may have acted as the basis for the earliest forms of life on Earth.
Follow @contentjunkie to stay up to date on more great posts like this one.
... this means aliens are real? ;)
It's never aliens till it's aliens :-)
Cg
Great article with interesting conclusion about the possible relation with the earliest forms of life on Earth.
Hi @contentjunkie I just found an exploit on Steemit that is causing a large amount of spam. People are promoting post's for the minimum amount and receiving the @promoted upvote for $0.05 cent. I realize this doesnt sound like a big deal. But do it 5000 times a day and bang, Steemit is just another spammy website.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@gnimeets/i-think-i-just-found-a-steem-exploit
Great article, thank you for sharing
No life without science.
most of what you consider science is in fact religious scientism. Anyone who's site is mostly CGI is full of shit. Just sayin.
Oh relax man, this is just total internal reflection read read to change this mind,
and there is no life without faith and Science.
This post has been ranked within the top 50 most undervalued posts in the first half of Jul 31. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $14.34 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.
See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Jul 31 - Part I. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.
If you are the author and would prefer not to receive these comments, simply reply "Stop" to this comment.