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Defogging Titan's Methane Mystery
from Science News
Methane fog hovering above Saturn's moon Titan has cleared away any doubt that the hydrocarbon cycles between the moon's surface and its atmosphere, planetary scientists say.
Titan is the only solar system body other than Earth known to have large quantities of liquid--in this case methane and ethane--on its surface. Scientists have speculated that these liquids may serve as a prebiotic brew, offering a snapshot of the chemistry of the early Earth.
Methane acts on Titan the way water does on Earth, notes Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. On Titan, methane can form clouds and is likely to produce rain. But it's less certain, says Brown, whether methane is truly part of a cycle, in which methane rain "makes it to the surface and pools into ponds or streams that then evaporate back into the atmosphere." The discovery of fog would settle this question.
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