Article Posted on : - May 09, 2011

Saturn's moon Titan.

WASHINGTON (BNS): A new study has revealed a different notion about the thick nitro-rich atmosphere of the Saturn's moon Titan, i.e. it could have been created by comets blasting gases out of its icy crust.

The nitro-rich atmosphere on the moon has always been a puzzle for the Scientists. Titan is the only moon in the solar system with much atmosphere.

According to latest research, the Titan’s atmosphere was created 3.9 billion years ago in a period known as the late heavy bombardment, when comets swarmed through the solar system.

"Huge amounts of cometary bodies would have collided with outer icy satellites, including Titan," New scientists quoted Yasuhito Sekine of the University of Tokyo, Japan as saying.

Atmospheric pressure on the moon's surface is about 50% higher than it is on Earth. More than 95% of the atmosphere is nitrogen, and where all of that nitrogen came from is one of astronomy's greatest mysteries, it said.