Titan Through the Haze
Explanation:
What are these surface features on
Titan?
This planet-sized moon of
Saturn
had much of its south polar surface imaged during an
initial flyby by the Saturn-orbiting
Cassini spacecraft back in early July.
The
above image mosaic was digitally stitched together from
pictures taken at a
very specific color of
polarized
infrared light, a color not absorbed and little
scattered by
Titan's methane haze.
Visible are light and dark regions that are
not yet understood.
Surface features as small as 10 kilometers are resolved
from about 340,000 kilometers away.
The
white region near Titan's South Pole, left of center, is
unusually thick clouds also thought to be composed of
methane.
Today Cassini will
swoop
to within 1,500 kilometers above
Titan
and may return data and images that help humanity better
understand this
strange world.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
