Owen Tobias, Niemann H B
Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2009 Feb 28;367(1889):607-15. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2008.0247.
It is possible to make a consistent story for the origin of Titan's atmosphere starting with the birth of Titan in the Saturn subnebula. If we use comet nuclei as a model, Titan's nitrogen and methane could have easily been delivered by the ice that makes up approximately 50 per cent of its mass. If Titan's atmospheric hydrogen is derived from that ice, it is possible that Titan and comet nuclei are in fact made of the same protosolar ice. The noble gas abundances are consistent with relative abundances found in the atmospheres of Mars and Earth, the Sun, and the meteorites.
从土卫六在土星次星云诞生开始，就有可能为土卫六大气的起源构建一个连贯的故事。如果我们以彗核为模型，土卫六的氮和甲烷很可能由构成其质量约50%的冰提供。如果土卫六大气中的氢源自那种冰，那么土卫六和彗核实际上可能由相同的原太阳冰构成。惰性气体的丰度与在火星、地球、太阳以及陨石的大气中发现的相对丰度相符。
