or Mars. It is possible that most of the atmospheric loss was within 50 million years of accretion, from a highly energetic escape of light atoms carrying away a large portion of the atmosphere (hydrodynamic escape). Such an event could be driven by heating and photolysis effects of the early Sun's higher output of X-ray and ultraviolet (XUV) photons. Because Callisto and Ganymede are structurally similar to Titan, it is unclear why their atmospheres are insignificant relative to Titan's. Nevertheless, the origin of Titan's N2 via geologically ancient photolysis of accreted and degassed NH3, as opposed to degassing of N2 from accretionary clathrates, may be the key to a correct inference. Had N2 been released from clathrates, 36Ar and 38Ar that are inert primordial isotopes of the Solar System should also be present in the atmosphere, but neither has been detected in significant quantities. The insignificant concentration of 36Ar and 38Ar also indicates that the ~40 K temperature required to trap them and N2 in clathrates did not exist in the Saturnian sub-nebula. Instead, the temperature may have been higher than 75 K, limiting even the accumulation of NH3 as hydrates. Temperatures would have been even higher in the Jovian sub-nebula due to the greater gravitational potential energy release, mass, and proximity to the Sun, greatly reducing the NH3 inventory accreted by Callisto and Ganymede. The resulting N2 atmospheres may have been too thin to survive the atmospheric erosion effects that Titan has withstood. An alternative explanation is that cometary impacts release more energy on Callisto and Ganymede than they do at Titan due to the higher gravitational field of Jupiter. That could erode the atmospheres of Callisto and Ganymede, whereas the cometary material would actually build Titan's atmosphere. However, the 2H–1H (i.e. D–H) ratio of Titan's atmosphere is , nearly 1.5 times lower than that of comets. The difference suggests that cometary material is unlikely to be the major contributor to Titan's atmosphere. Titan's atmosphere also contains over a thousand times more methane than carbon monoxide which supports the idea that cometary material is not a likely contributor since comets are composed of more carbon monoxide than methane. See also Atmosphere of Mars References Further reading External links Titan (moon) Titan