As Cassini scientists work to understand the newly-exposed surface of
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, they have found an interesting
arrowhead-shaped feature, shown in the center of this synthetic aperture
radar image.
The feature is approximately 30 kilometers (19 miles) across, and it is
formed from two straight lines that intersect. Looking more closely, one
can distinguish other linear features that seem to follow the left side
of the "arrow" and perhaps interact in some way with a dark spot. Straight
lines may represent fractures or faults in the icy crust, or they may form
from material that has flowed or has been shaped by wind, either recently
or in the distant past.
The area shown is about 115 kilometers (71 miles) wide and 170 kilometers
(106 miles) high and is located near 52 degrees north latitude and 73
degrees west longitude. This radar image is part of a larger strip of
data acquired on Oct. 26, 2004, as Cassini passed Titan at a distance of
1,200 kilometers (746 miles).
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 Science Mission
Directorate, Washington, D.C. The radar instrument team is based at JPL,
working with team members from the United States and several European
countries. In particular, the radar antenna assembly was a contribution
of the Italian Space Agency.
For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit,
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.
