Monodeuterated Methane in the Outer Solar System. III. Its Abundance on Titan
Abstract
The 3ν2 band of CH3D has been detected in spectra of Titan recorded at 1.6 μm with the Fourier transform spectrometer at the 4 m telescope of the Kitt Peak National Observatory. The authors have obtained a value of the CH3D/CH4 mixing ratio of 6.6 (+6.6, -3.3)×10-4 from a comparison between the observed Titan spectra and synthetic spectra. It corresponds to D/H of 1.65 (+1.65, -0.8)×10-4, nominally 8 times higher than the most commonly accepted value for the protosolar D/H = 2×10-5. The value found on Titan for D/H in methane is comparable to the D/H ratio measured in terrestrial H2O.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- June 1988
- DOI:
- 10.1086/166439
- Bibcode:
- 1988ApJ...329..951D
- Keywords:
-
- Abundance;
- Deuterium;
- Methyl Alcohol;
- Satellite Atmospheres;
- Solar System;
- Titan;
- Line Spectra;
- Signal To Noise Ratios;
- Stoichiometry;
- SATURN;
- SATELLITES;
- TITAN;
- METHANE;
- SPECTRA;
- SPECTROMETRY;
- COMPARISONS;
- EARTH-BASED OBSERVATIONS;
- DEUTERIUM;
- ABUNDANCE;
- ATMOSPHERE;
- MODELS;
- ELEMENT RATIOS;
- HYPOTHESES;
- HYROGEN;
- ENRICHMENT;
- Lunar and Planetary Exploration; Satellites of Saturn;
- DEUTERIUM;
- PLANETS: ABUNDANCES;
- PLANETS: SATELLITES