This synthetic aperture radar image was obtained by the Cassini spacecraft
on its pass by Titan's south pole on Dec. 20, 2007. This image is centered
near 76.5 south, 32.5 west and covers an area of 620 kilometers by 270
kilometers (385 miles by 170 miles).
Abundant evidence for flowing liquids is seen in this image, from sinuous,
wide river channels to shorter, more chaotic drainage patterns. The
extremely dissected, rugged terrain in the southern portion of the image
has been very eroded by flowing liquids, probably from a combination of
methane rainstorms and sapping (subsurface methane rising to erode the
surface). The broad valleys seen in the southern portion of the image are
particularly intriguing, as they appear to be flat-floored, filled with
smooth material, and in places have sharply defined, relatively straight
sides. Valleys such as this can be formed by tectonic processes, such as
rifting, or by erosional processes, caused by flowing liquid or ice.
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.
