Click on the image for movie of
Infrared and Radar Views of Titan #2
This image composite contains a radar image taken during a February 2005
(T3) flyby, and overlaid are images from the visual and infrared mapping
spectrometer taken on Sept. 7, 2006, (T17) and Oct. 25, 2006 (T20).
The thin strip is the infrared image taken on the inbound leg of the T20
flyby and crosses the radar image near an area with a small, crater-like
feature. In the radar image a faint fan of material seems to originate at
the crater, and the portion of the infrared image that crosses the faint
fan shows both a large brightness contrast and very sharp boundaries. The
fan-like deposit has such sharp boundaries and strong contrast with its
surroundings that it supports the idea that the deposit seen in the radar
images is a flow of material erupted from the small crater. This may be
the strongest evidence yet of cryovolcanism on Titan. The infrared image
was taken at a distance of 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) from the surface
of Titan and resolves features as small as 400 meters (1,300 feet).
The infrared images were taken at wavelengths of 1.3 microns shown in
blue, 2 microns shown in green, and 5 microns shown in red.
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 Visual
and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team is based at the University of
Arizona where this image was produced. The radar instrument was built by
JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the
United States and several European countries.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer
team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu.
