A mosaic of nine processed images recently acquired during Cassini's first
very close flyby of Saturn's moon Titan on Oct. 26, 2004, constitutes the
most detailed full-disc view of the mysterious moon.
The view is centered on 15 degrees South latitude, and 156 degrees West
longitude. Brightness variations across the surface and bright clouds
near the south pole are easily seen.
The images that comprise the mosaic have been processed to reduce the
effects of the atmosphere and to sharpen surface features. The mosaic
has been trimmed to show only the illuminated surface and not the
atmosphere above the edge of the moon. The Sun was behind Cassini so
nearly the full disc is illuminated. Pixels scales of the composite
images vary from 2 to 4 kilometers per pixel (1.2 to 2.5 miles per pixel).
Surface features are best seen near the center of the disc, where the
spacecraft is looking directly downwards; the contrast becomes
progressively lower and surface features become fuzzier towards the
outside, where the spacecraft is peering through haze, a circumstance
that washes out surface features.
The brighter region on the right side and equatorial region is named
Xanadu Regio. Scientists are actively debating what processes may have
created the bizarre surface brightness patterns seen here. The images
hint at a young surface with, no obvious craters. However, the exact
nature of that activity, whether tectonic, wind-blown, fluvial, marine,
or volcanic is still to be determined.
The images comprising this mosaic were acquired from distances ranging
from 650,000 kilometers (400,000 miles) to 300,000 kilometers (200,000
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 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.