This mosaic of Titan's surface was made from 16 images. The individual
images have been specially processed to remove effects of Titan's hazy
atmosphere and to improve visibility of the surface near the terminator
(the boundary between day and night).
During Cassini's first close flyby of Titan in October 2004, many clouds
were seen near the south pole; in the December flyby many clouds were seen
at mid-latitudes (see PIA06157). During this flyby, only a few small clouds
near the south pole were noted.
Imaging coverage during this flyby included improved looks at territory
to the north and west of Xanadu, the large bright white area.
The images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera
through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of polarized infrared light and
were acquired at distances ranging from approximately 226,000 to 242,000
kilometers (140,000 to 150,000 miles) from Titan. Resolution in the images
is about 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) 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.
