Titan organic haze

Of the three extraterrestrial targets in our solar system, the Saturnian moon Titan is the least likely to provide signs of life. To quote Christopher McKay from the NASA Ames Research Center, Titan is an interesting world. For example, its organic haze layer could be an example of the prebiotic chemistry which led to life on Earth . Direct links to extraterrestrial life have not, however, yet been found, as water (one of the main preconditions for life) has not been detected on Titan, apart from traces of water vapour in the higher layers of the Titanian atmosphere (Brack, 2002). 

Trainer MG, Pavlov AA, DeWitt HL, et al. Organic haze on Titan and the early Earth. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2006 103 18035-42. 

C.P. McKay, Elemental composition, solubility, and optical properties of Titan s organic haze Planet Space Sci. 44(8), 741-747 (1996)... 

Sagan and Chyba (1997) [287] proposed that the early Earth had an organic haze layer in its atmosphere. Such a layer can be found in the atmosphere of Titan, the largest satellite of Saturn and is produced by methane photolysis in the presence of nitrogen. An organic haze layer would preferentially absorb ultraviolet light, thereby allowing ammonia and methane to persist in the atmosphere. 

Tholins are complex organics that form via photolysis reaction in the atmosphere of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, which produces a thick reddish-brown haze. As for the material reported here tholin material can be produced in the laboratory by cold plasma discharge in a nitrogen-methane mixture. 

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