Unlike the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, which consist chiefly of hydrogen and helium, and the atmospheres of Mars and Venus, which have carbon dioxide as their principal component, the earth’s atmosphere consists mostly of nitrogen and oxygen. It also contains argon, carbon dioxide, neon,...
Both Uranus and Neptune possess hot thermospheres and stratospheres that are substantially clear of hydrocarbons and other heavy constituents, making the UV albedos higher than for Jupiter and Saturn. A sharp increase in measured reflectance intensity at wavelengths longward of 1500 Å is indicative...
V. Yelle (1997, Geophys. Res. Lett. 24, 2179–2192), whose ionospheric model prefers heavy pseudoions as main constituents near the peak, can, in part, be reproduced if the density of C 4H 2, a neutral molecule that controls heavy ion production rate, is increased by a factor of 100...
Saturn, ringed planet that is the second largest planet in the solar system in mass and size and the sixth nearest planet in distance to the Sun. When viewed through even a small telescope, the planet encircled by its magnificent rings is arguably the mo
Ammonia and methane were only minor constituents of the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide comprised about 15% of the atmosphere and the percentage of nitrogen was 75%.[5] In essence, most of the original components of the atmosphere had escaped, precipitated as liquids or reacted chemically to form ...
The rates and altitudes for the dissociation of atmospheric constituents of Titan are calculated for solar UV, solar wind protons, interplanetary electrons, Saturn magnetospheric particles, and cosmic rays. The resulting integrated synthesis rates of organic products range from 102–103 g cm2 over 4.5...