Lyons J R, Yung Y L, Allen M
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 91125, USA.
Science. 1992 Apr 10;256:204-6. doi: 10.1126/science.11540928.
If the upper atmosphere and ionosphere of Triton are controlled by precipitation of electrons from Neptune's magnetosphere as previously proposed, Triton could have the only ionosphere in the solar system not controlled by solar radiation. However, a new model of Triton's atmosphere, in which only solar radiation is present, predicts a large column of carbon atoms. With an assumed, but reasonable, rate of charge transfer between N2(+) and C, a peak C+ abundance results that is close to the peak electron densities measured by Voyager in Triton's ionosphere. These results suggest that Triton's upper atmospheric chemistry may thus be solar-controlled. Measurement of key reaction rate constants, currently unknown or highly uncertain at Triton's low temperatures, would help to clarify the chemical and physical processes occurring in Triton's atmosphere.
如果海卫一的高层大气和电离层如先前提出的那样由来自海王星磁层的电子沉降所控制，那么海卫一可能拥有太阳系中唯一不受太阳辐射控制的电离层。然而，一个新的海卫一大气模型表明，仅存在太阳辐射时会预测出大量的碳原子柱。假设N2(+)和C之间存在合理的电荷转移速率，会产生一个峰值C+丰度，该丰度接近“旅行者号”在海卫一电离层中测得的峰值电子密度。这些结果表明，海卫一的高层大气化学可能因此受太阳控制。测量关键反应速率常数（目前在海卫一的低温下未知或高度不确定）将有助于阐明海卫一大气中发生的化学和物理过程。
