This map of Titan's surface illustrates the regions that will be imaged by
the Cassini spacecraft during the spacecraft's second close flyby of
Titan on Dec. 13, 2004.
The colored lines delineate the regions that will be imaged at differing
resolutions. The lower-resolution imaging sequences (outlined in blue)
are designed to study the atmosphere, clouds, and surface in a variety of
spectral filters, and to make movies of the evolution of clouds over time
scales of hours. Other areas have been specifically targeted for moderate
and high resolution mosaicking of surface features. These include the site
where the European Space Agency's Huygens probe is predicted to touch down
in mid-January (marked with the yellow X), part of the bright region named
Xanadu (easternmost extent of the coverage area), and a boundary between
dark and bright regions. The map shows only brightness variations on
Titan's surface. (The illumination is such that there is no shading due
to topographic variations). Previous observations indicate that due to
Titan's thick, hazy atmosphere, the sizes of surface features that can be
resolved are a few to five times the actual pixel scale labeled on the
map.
The December encounter is similar in geometry to the first close Titan
flyby in October (see PIA06116), so
Cassini scientists have taken advantage of this to retarget some of the
same areas in order to look for changes and to cover new territory as
well. This is the reason for the rather irregular shape of the green
outline.
The map was made from global images taken in June 2004 at image scales of
35 to 88 kilometers (22 to 55 miles) per pixel and from south polar
coverage from July 2004 at an image scale of 2 kilometers (1.3 miles) per
pixel. The images were obtained using a narrow band filter centered at
938 nanometers - a near-infrared wavelength (invisible to the human eye)
that can penetrate Titan's atmosphere to the surface. The images have
been processed to enhance surface details.
It is currently northern winter on Titan, so Titan's high northern
latitudes are not illuminated, resulting in the jagged upper boundary.
Clouds near the south pole (see PIA06110) have also been removed
(south of minus 75 degrees).
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 Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space
Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard
cameras, were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team
is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit,
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page,
http://ciclops.org.