This global digital map of Titan was created using images taken by the
Cassini spacecraft imaging science subsystem.
The images were taken using a filter centered at 938 nanometers, allowing
researchers to examine albedo (or inherent brightness) variations across
the surface of Titan. Due to the scattering of light by Titan's dense
atmosphere, no topographic shading is visible in these images.
The map is an equidistant projection and has a scale of 4 kilometers (2.5
miles) per pixel. Actual resolution varies greatly across the map, with
the best coverage (close to the map scale) near the center and edges of
the map and the worst coverage on the trailing hemisphere (centered around
270 degrees west longitude).
Imaging coverage in the northern polar region is only just beginning to
improve, and will continue to do so over the next couple of years, as
Titan approaches vernal equinox in August 2009 and the north pole comes
out of shadow. Large, dark and presumably liquid-hydrocarbon-filled seas
are becoming visible at high latitudes (see also PIA08365).
The mean radius of Titan used for projection of this map is 2,575
kilometers (1,600 miles). Until a control network is created for Titan,
the moon is assumed to be spherical.
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 operations center is based at the Space
Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The Cassini imaging team
homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
