Propylene on Titan
- Visualizations by:
- Ernie Wright
- View full credits
NASA Planetary Scientist Conor Nixon explains his discovery of propylene on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Scientists have known about the presence of atmospheric hydrocarbons on Titan since Voyager 1 flew by in 1980, but one molecule, propylene, was curiously missing. Now, thanks to new data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, propylene has been detected for the first time on Titan.
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Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel.
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft first revealed the presence of several species of atmospheric hydrocarbons when it flew by Titan in 1980, but one molecule was curiously missing - propylene, the main ingredient in plastic number 5. Now, thanks to NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists have detected propylene on Titan for the first time, solving a long-standing mystery about the solar system's most Earthlike moon.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Animators
- Ernie Wright (USRA) [Lead]
- Chris Meaney (KBRwyle)
- Chris Smith (KBRwyle)
- Dan Gallagher (KBRwyle)
- John S. Howard (NASA/JPL CalTech)
Writer
- Elizabeth Zubritsky (ADNET)
Video editor
- Dan Gallagher (KBRwyle)
Scientist
- Conor Nixon (NASA/GSFC)
Interviewee
- Conor Nixon (NASA/GSFC)
Producer
- Dan Gallagher (KBRwyle)
Videographer
- Rob Andreoli (AIMM)
Project support
- Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET)
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Tapes
This visualization originally appeared on the following tapes:- None