The Perplexing Methane of Titan
Bill Moore
EV World,Nebraska
_______________
As the Huygens probe descended through the smog-like atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan, it revealed a strangely earth-like topography of river channels and a frozen sea.
It also created a new mystery:
what is the origin of the moon’s abundant methane?
The question has only intensified the tone of the debate over the origin of oil and gas here on planet Earth. Methane -- commonly known as natural gas -- is a simple hydrocarbon made up of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms: CH4. It generally is assumed to be of biological origin, the result of microbial processes.
Methane has also been detected in the thin atmosphere of Mars, suggesting the possibility of life on the Red Planet. The problem is, given the extremely cold environment on Titan -- not to mention Mars -- there is little likelihood that Titan’s methane is of biological origin. "This methane cannot be coming from living organisms," asserts Jean-Pierre Lebreton, the mission manager for the Huygens space probe.
Compounding the mystery is the fact that methane is destroyed in the atmosphere by ultraviolet light from the sun, so Titan’s methane should have disappeared eons ago, but some little-understood process continues to replenish it.
Oct 28, 2005
Bill Moore
EV World,Nebraska
_______________
As the Huygens probe descended through the smog-like atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan, it revealed a strangely earth-like topography of river channels and a frozen sea.
It also created a new mystery:
what is the origin of the moon’s abundant methane?
The question has only intensified the tone of the debate over the origin of oil and gas here on planet Earth. Methane -- commonly known as natural gas -- is a simple hydrocarbon made up of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms: CH4. It generally is assumed to be of biological origin, the result of microbial processes.
Methane has also been detected in the thin atmosphere of Mars, suggesting the possibility of life on the Red Planet. The problem is, given the extremely cold environment on Titan -- not to mention Mars -- there is little likelihood that Titan’s methane is of biological origin. "This methane cannot be coming from living organisms," asserts Jean-Pierre Lebreton, the mission manager for the Huygens space probe.
Compounding the mystery is the fact that methane is destroyed in the atmosphere by ultraviolet light from the sun, so Titan’s methane should have disappeared eons ago, but some little-understood process continues to replenish it.
Oct 28, 2005
