Photochemical activity of Titan’s low-altitude condensed haze

Murthy S. Gudipati (), Ronen Jacovi, Isabelle Couturier-Tamburelli, Antti Lignell and Mark Allen
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Murthy S. Gudipati: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Ronen Jacovi: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Isabelle Couturier-Tamburelli: Laboratoire Physique des interactions ioniques et moléculaires, UMR CNRS 7345, Aix-Marseille Université, 13397 Marseille cedex 20, France
Antti Lignell: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Mark Allen: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Titan, the largest moon of Saturn and similar to Earth in many aspects, has unique orange-yellow colour that comes from its atmospheric haze, whose formation and dynamics are far from well understood. Present models assume that Titan’s tholin-like haze formation occurs high in atmosphere through gas-phase chemical reactions initiated by high-energy solar radiation. Here we address an important question: Is the lower atmosphere of Titan photochemically active or inert? We demonstrate that indeed tholin-like haze formation could occur on condensed aerosols throughout the atmospheric column of Titan. Detected in Titan’s atmosphere, dicyanoacetylene (C4N2) is used in our laboratory simulations as a model system for other larger unsaturated condensing compounds. We show that C4N2 ices undergo condensed-phase photopolymerization (tholin formation) at wavelengths as long as 355 nm pertinent to solar radiation reaching a large portion of Titan’s atmosphere, almost close to the surface.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2649

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