Propylene on Titan

In 1972 David Bowie sang the famous "Life on Mars". In these days Nasa's scientists announced that the spacecraft Cassini has detected propylene on Saturn's moon Titan. This chemical, thanks to the Ziegler-Natta (or metallocenic) catalysis, leads to the production of polypropylene (used in food-storage containers for example).
This is the first definitive detection of the "plastic ingredient" on any moon or planet, other than Earth.
A small amount of propylene was identified in Titan's lower atmosphere by Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS). This instrument measures the infrared light, or heat radiation, emitted from Saturn and its moons in much the same way our hands feel the warmth of a fire.
Propylene is the first molecule to be discovered on Titan using CIRS. By isolating the same signal at various altitudes within the lower atmosphere, researchers identified the chemical with a high degree of confidence.
Details are presented in a paper in the September 30 edition of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.