Figure 1
This map of Titan's surface, generated from images taken during Cassini's
approach to Saturn, illustrates the imaging coverage planned during
Cassini's first very close Titan flyby on Oct. 26, 2004.
Colored lines enclose regions that will be covered at different imaging
scales as Cassini approaches Titan. Based on previous observations, it is
anticipated that the size of the smallest visible surface features will be
approximately five times larger than the image scale. Thus, the smallest
visible features within the region bounded by the red curve should be
about 1 to 1.2 kilometers (0.6 to 0.9 mile) across. The yellow X marks
the predicted landing site for the Huygens probe, the target of the
camera's highest-resolution mosaic. Images of this site taken near
closest approach may have higher resolution than indicated here. Features
a few hundred meters or yards across may be discernible, depending on the
effect that relative motion between the spacecraft and Titan has on the
quality of the images.
The images used to create the map were acquired between April and June
2004 using a narrow, 938-nanometer filter that sees through Titan's
atmospheric haze to the surface. These images have been processed to
enhance surface details. Scales range from 88 to 35 kilometers (55 to
22 miles) per pixel. It's currently winter in Titan's northern hemisphere,
so high northern latitudes are not illuminated, resulting in the map's
upper limit at roughly 45 degrees north latitude.
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.
