Multiple upper stratospheric haze layers are evident in this ultraviolet view
from Cassini looking toward Titan's south pole. The alternating bright and
dark bands may be due to differing haze concentrations produced by what
may be gravity wave motions (the atmospheric equivalent of ripples on a
pond), or perhaps they are evidence of shadows cast by haze layers moving
upward as waves pass by in the atmosphere. East-west waves suggestive of
other wave motions are also visible in these layers.
The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on
Feb. 14, 2005, through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of polarized infrared
light centered at 338 nanometers. The image was acquired at a distance of
approximately 151,000 kilometers (94,000 miles) from Titan and at a
Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 20 degrees. Resolution in the
image is about 900 meters (3,000 feet) per pixel.
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 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.
