This north polar image of Titan was acquired by Cassini’s radar
instrument on May 12, 2007.
Stretching from 69 degrees north, 329 degrees west to 33 degrees
north, 227 degrees west, this swath gently curves from west-to-east
at the left end to north-to-south at the right. It is more than 2,700
kilometers (1,678 miles) long and varies from 200 to 500 kilometers
(124 to 310 miles) in width, covering the southern extreme of a large
dark area previously imaged by the Imaging Science Subsystem (see
PIA08365). The thin white stripe at immediate left is an
artifact related to the instrument’s multi-beam operation; throughout
the swath there are some near-vertical stripes that are also artifacts.
As displayed here, the extreme left end of the image shows the west
margin of a dark area interpreted to be a lake of liquid methane and
probably ethane, with obvious shore-like features, such as bays, inlets
and islands. Radar images show smooth areas as dark, and this lake is
among the darkest areas seen so far on Titan. The eastern margin of the
lake is similarly complex, and some of the shoreline features seem related
to ridges and lower topography on the shore, as if the liquid in the lake
has filled lower-lying areas between ridges. Some of these channels drain
into the lake, while others go into a slightly brighter, more uniform area that
may be connected to the lake just off the lower edge of the image (for more
details on this area, see PIA09211). Farther to the right, moving southward,
a complex region of ridges and channels transitions to more subdued
landforms with circular or lobate features, some of which have raised rims.
The terrain toward the right of the image is rougher, with topographic
depressions that resemble dried lakebeds, lacking the dark material seen
in the lakes farther north. Toward the right end of the image, farthest from
the north pole, a series of long, low depressions is seen against a relatively
dark background.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European
Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's 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.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm.
