Credit: NASA/JPL/USGSTitan's North Polar Region
This Cassini false-color mosaic shows all synthetic-aperture radar images to date of Titan's north polar region. Approximately 60 percent of Titan's north polar region, above 60 degrees north latitude, is now mapped with radar. About 14 percent of the mapped region is covered by what is interpreted as liquid hydrocarbon lakes.
Features appearing darkest to the radar, which are thought to be liquid, are shown in blue and black, and the radar-bright areas likely to be solid surface are tinted brown. The terrain in the top center of this mosaic is imaged at lower resolution than the remainder of the image.
Most of the many lakes and seas seen so far are contained in this image, including the largest known body of liquid on Titan. These seas are most likely filled with liquid ethane, methane and dissolved nitrogen.
Many bays, islands and presumed tributary networks are associated with the seas. The large feature in the upper right center of this image is at least 100,000 square kilometers (40,000 square miles) in area, greater in extent than Lake Superior (82,000 square kilometers or 32,000 square miles), one of Earth's largest lakes. This Titan feature covers a greater fraction of the surface, at least 0.12 percent, than the Black Sea, Earth's largest terrestrial inland sea, at 0.085 percent. Larger seas may exist, as it is probable that some of these bodies are connected, either in areas unmapped by radar or under the surface (See Exploring the Wetlands of Titan).
Of the 400 observed lakes and seas, 70 percent of their area is taken up by large "seas" greater than 26,000 square kilometers (10,000 square miles).
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries.
Features appearing darkest to the radar, which are thought to be liquid, are shown in blue and black, and the radar-bright areas likely to be solid surface are tinted brown. The terrain in the top center of this mosaic is imaged at lower resolution than the remainder of the image.
Most of the many lakes and seas seen so far are contained in this image, including the largest known body of liquid on Titan. These seas are most likely filled with liquid ethane, methane and dissolved nitrogen.
Many bays, islands and presumed tributary networks are associated with the seas. The large feature in the upper right center of this image is at least 100,000 square kilometers (40,000 square miles) in area, greater in extent than Lake Superior (82,000 square kilometers or 32,000 square miles), one of Earth's largest lakes. This Titan feature covers a greater fraction of the surface, at least 0.12 percent, than the Black Sea, Earth's largest terrestrial inland sea, at 0.085 percent. Larger seas may exist, as it is probable that some of these bodies are connected, either in areas unmapped by radar or under the surface (See Exploring the Wetlands of Titan).
Of the 400 observed lakes and seas, 70 percent of their area is taken up by large "seas" greater than 26,000 square kilometers (10,000 square miles).
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries.
Radar Sees Lakes in Titan's Southern HemisphereCassini's radar instrument finds lakes in the southern hemisphere of Titan during the most recent Titan flyby. This is the first confirmation of lakes in the southern hemisphere with the radar instrument. Hundreds of lakes have already been discovered and imaged by radar at Titan's north pole. This finding is important to scientists who are trying to understand how Titan's environment works.
Cassini completed its 37th flyby of Saturn's moon Titan on Oct. 2, 2007, allowing the Cassini Titan Radar Mapper to obtain this southernmost image to date.
Shown here is a portion of the image swath and an inset with details of a small portion in false color. Titan's south pole is at the bottom center. The nature and similarities between the northern and southern near-polar regions supports the idea that much of Titan's poles are climate-driven.
A few small dark patches - liquid-hydrocarbon-filled lakes - stand out, at about 70 degrees south, and are highlighted in the insert (lakes are colored blue). Other features in the scene include broad, steep-sided depressions adjoined to sinuous depressions, interpreted to be empty topographic basins or drained lakes fed by channels, and complex mottled terrain, akin to those at similar northern latitudes. Similarities in features between northern and southern hemispheres imply that the climatic conditions are also similar.
The image shown here is a 1.4-kilometer (0.87-mile) resolution, 2,250-kilometer (1,400 mile) subsection of a 4,500-kilometer (2,800-mile) long swath, which is 150 kilometers (93 miles) wide at the narrowest point. The insert is 90 by 90 kilometers (56 by 56 miles), centered at 70.5 degrees south and 113.9 degrees west. Future southern flybys will image closer to the pole and are expected to show more lakes.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries.
