Publication Date:
2005-05-14
Description:
The Cassini Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) has obtained the first in situ composition measurements of the neutral densities of molecular nitrogen, methane, molecular hydrogen, argon, and a host of stable carbon-nitrile compounds in Titan's upper atmosphere. INMS in situ mass spectrometry has also provided evidence for atmospheric waves in the upper atmosphere and the first direct measurements of isotopes of nitrogen, carbon, and argon, which reveal interesting clues about the evolution of the atmosphere. The bulk composition and thermal structure of the moon's upper atmosphere do not appear to have changed considerably since the Voyager 1 flyby.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Waite, J Hunter Jr -- Niemann, Hasso -- Yelle, Roger V -- Kasprzak, Wayne T -- Cravens, Thomas E -- Luhmann, Janet G -- McNutt, Ralph L -- Ip, Wing-Huen -- Gell, David -- De La Haye, Virginie -- Muller-Wordag, Ingo -- Magee, Brian -- Borggren, Nathan -- Ledvina, Steve -- Fletcher, Greg -- Walter, Erin -- Miller, Ryan -- Scherer, Stefan -- Thorpe, Rob -- Xu, Jing -- Block, Bruce -- Arnett, Ken -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2005 May 13;308(5724):982-6.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2143, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15890873" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Argon
;
Atmosphere
;
Carbon Isotopes
;
*Elements
;
Evolution, Planetary
;
Extraterrestrial Environment
;
*Hydrocarbons
;
Hydrogen
;
Isotopes
;
Mass Spectrometry
;
Methane
;
Nitriles
;
Nitrogen
;
Nitrogen Isotopes
;
*Saturn
;
Spacecraft
;
Temperature
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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