Evidence from scanning electron microscopy ofexperimental influences on the morphology of Triton andTitan tholins

To simulate experimentally the production of aerosols in the atmospheres of Titan andTriton, we have studied organic material (tholins) obtained by inductively coupled plasma fromCH4 : N2 gas mixtures, with ratios 10 : 90 for Titan simulations and 0.1 : 99.9 for Tritonsimulations. Observation of tholins by high performance scanning electron microscopy showsthat tholin morphology varies with the chemical composition of the initial gas mixture. Althoughthe role of the experimental design (especially the diameter of the discharge chamber) and theflux of matter were not fully investigated, it appears that they have a significant effect not on theoverall morphology of the tholins but on the size distribution of the particles.