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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.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Titan - Saturn - methane
Publications with words: Titan - Saturn - methane
See also:
- APOD: 2025 February 23 Á Saturn in Infrared from Cassini
- APOD: 2025 January 19 Á Titan Touchdown: Huygens Descent Movie
- APOD: 2024 December 8 Á Aurora around Saturns North Pole
- Saturn at Night
- APOD: 2024 August 27 Á Moon Eclipses Saturn
- APOD: 2024 June 23 Á The Colors of Saturn from Cassini
- A Season of Saturn