Thin Oxygen-CO2 Atmosphere Discovered On Rhea

Randyll writes "During its Saturn flyby in March, the Cassini space probe detected an oxygen-rich atmosphere on Rhea, Saturn's second-largest moon. While 100 times thinner than the atmospheres of Europa or Ganymede, Rhea's atmosphere contains a surprising amount of carbon dioxide. There is an explanation for the oxygen — the decomposition of surface ice — while the origin of the carbon dioxide is a mystery. A few of the possible explanations are that Rhea has carbon-rich organic molecules or that the gas is seeping from Rhea's interior. However, researchers have been unable to determine the exact source for the gas." While "richness" is relative — the study's abstract refers to Rhea's atmosphere as "tenuous," and oxygen concentrations are trillions of times lower there than they are on Earth — the finding still puts Rhea in rare company among the planets and moons of the solar system.

Comments

Stupid writing

[Lev13than]

While 100 times thinner than the atmospheres of Europa or Ganymede

100 times thinner compared to what? Or are they implying that Rhea has a negative atmosphere that's 99 times more negative than Europa's is positive? If they mean that Rhea's atmosphere is 1% or 1/100th as dense as Europa's then just say that. For a science website to get this wrong is pretty bad.

The Chinese

[Teun]

When you detect elevated levels of CO2 in the atmosphere you probably have a Chinese power plant nearby.