PIA02238: Titan's thick haze layer

Target Name: Titan Is a satellite of: Saturn Mission: Voyager Spacecraft: Voyager 1 Instrument: Imaging Science Subsystem - Narrow Angle Product Size: 485 samples x 580 lines Produced By: JPL Producer ID: P23108 Addition Date: 2000-03-16 Primary Data Set: Voyager EDRs Full-Res TIFF: PIA02238.tif (408.2 kB) Full-Res JPEG: PIA02238.jpg (14.33 kB)

Original Caption Released with Image: Titan's thick haze layer is shown in this enhanced Voyager 1 image taken Nov. 12, 1980 at a distance of 435,000 kilometers (270,000 miles). Voyager images of Saturn's largest moon show Titan completely enveloped by haze that merges with a darker "hood" or cloud layer over the north pole. Such a mantle is not present at the south pole. At Voyager's closest approach to Titan on Nov. 11, 1980, spacecraft instruments found that the moon has a substantial atmosphere, far denser than that of Mars and possibly denser than Earth's. The Voyager Project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Image Credit: NASA/JPL