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Titan is the largest of the 62 Saturn moons and the only astronomical object in the solar system. NASA research team announced that they have discovered a potentially life-forming carbon compound in Titan’s atmosphere.
Titan’s atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and methane. In addition, the atmospheric pressure is 1.45 times that of the Earth and the atmospheric density is 4 times that of the Earth. Rain and clouds have even been confirmed to have a saltwater sea underground, and it is believed that it was in an environment relatively close to the earth 2.5 billion years ago.
The research team reportedly detected a substance called C3H2, a cyclic hydrocarbon, in the spectrum while investigating the atmosphere of Titan through the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array telescope in northern Chile. When the research team found this trace, he said that it was a really unexpected analysis result and was surprised. Since it was the first time that cyclic hydrocarbons other than benzene were found in Titan’s atmosphere, the team reconfirmed data sent by the Saturn probe Cassini from 2004 to 2017. As a result, traces of C3H2 were found in mass spectrometry data around Titan.
The researchers said it was not clear why C3H2 was present in Titan’s atmosphere and why C3H2 was not detected in another celestial atmosphere. However, the discovery of C3H2 in Titan’s atmosphere is important because C3H2 can be part of the DNA and RNA nucleic acid bases, which are genetic information media.
The Dragonfly research team, which plans to send a lander to Titan in 2026, said that Titan can be seen as a laboratory that can observe chemical reactions similar to those of the ancient Earth where life was born. It says that in order to understand the chemical reactions that are pouring onto the surface, we first need to know what is going on in the atmosphere. Related information can be found here .
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