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Detailed Reference Information |
Lorenz, R.D., Lunine, J.I. and McKay, C.P. (1997). Titan under a red giant sun: A new kind of “habitable” moon. Geophysical Research Letters 24: doi: 10.1029/97GL52843. issn: 0094-8276. |
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We explore the response of Titan's surface and massive atmosphere to the change in solar spectrum and intensity as the sun evolves into a red giant. Titan's surface temperature is insensitive to insolation increases as the haze-laden atmosphere puffs up and blocks more sunlight. However, we find a window of several hundred Myr exists, roughly 6 Gyr from now, when liquid water-ammonia can form oceans on the surface and react with the abundant organic compounds there. The window opens due to a drop in haze production as the ultraviolet flux from the reddening sun plummets. The duration of such a window exceeds the time necessary for life to have begun on Earth. Similar environments, with ~200 K water-ammonia oceans warmed by methane greenhouses under red stars, are an alternative to the ~300 K water-CO2 environments considered the classic habitable planet. ¿ 1997 American Geophysical Union |
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Abstract |
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Keywords
Planetology, Solid Surface Planets, Surface materials and properties |
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union 2000 Florida Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009-1277 USA 1-202-462-6900 1-202-328-0566 service@agu.org |
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