Methane in titan's atmosphere : from fundamental spectroscopy to planetology

Vincent Boudon (1) , Jean-Paul Champion (1) , Tony Gabard (1) , Michel Loete (1) , Athena Coustenis (2) , Catherine de Bergh (2) , Bruno Bézard (2) , Emmanuel Lellouch (2) , Pierre Drossart (2) , Mathieu Hirtzig (3) , Alberto Negrão (2) , Caitlin A. Griffith (4)

1 ICB - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Carnot de Bourgogne
2 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
3 PSL - Planetary Science Laboratory [Ann Arbor]
4 LPL - Lunar and Planetary Laboratory [Tucson]

The methane molecule (CH4) is relatively abundant in the Universe and in particular in our Solar System. On Earth, it is the main compound of natural gas and is also the second greenhouse gas of anthropic origin. On Saturn's satellite Titan it plays a role similar to water on Earth and leads to a complex chemistry.

Mots clés: Titan; Methane; Spectroscopy; Planetologie

Domaines: Physique Atmosphérique et Océanique [physics.ao-ph]

Vincent Boudon, Jean-Paul Champion, Tony Gabard, Michel Loete, Athena Coustenis, et al.. Methane in titan's atmosphere : from fundamental spectroscopy to planetology. 2009. ⟨hal-00413986⟩