The reason why Titan has a thick atmosphere while its Jovian clones Ganymede and Callisto have nothing is addressed. It is argued that this contrast is a predictable consequence of impact erosion, i.e., the escape of atmospheric gases as a consequence of hypervelocity impact, the average impact velocity of stray bodies on Titan being lower than on Ganymede and Callisto. A model to examine this hypothesis is presented.


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    Title :

    Impact origin of Titan's atmosphere


    Contributors:
    Zahnle, Kevin (author) / Dones, L. (author)


    Publication date :

    1992-04-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




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