This synthetic aperture radar image of Titan was taken on Oct. 28, 2005,
as the Cassini spacecraft flew by at a distance of 1,350 kilometers (840
miles). This was the first pass dedicated to radar, and it was the fourth
time Cassini's radar honed in on the smoggy moon.
The bright, curving features are high-standing ridges, poking up above
the plains of Titan. Some of the ridges extend for over 100 kilometers (60
miles). They are likely to be tectonic in origin, formed by deformation of
Titan's icy crust. The low-lying terrain between the ridges is covered in
dark streaks, which could be dunes formed by wind. The streaks, spaced 1
to 2 kilometers apart (0.6 to 1 mile), curve between patches of the bright
terrain, which probably act as topographic barriers.
This image is 400 kilometers (250 miles) across and 275 kilometers-wide
(170 miles). It is located 8 degrees south latitude and 215 degrees west
longitude.
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 team is based at JPL, 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.
