This map of the surface of Saturn's moon Titan illustrates the regions
that will be imaged by Cassini during the spacecraft's fourth (and third
very close) flyby of the smoggy moon on Feb. 15, 2005. At closest
approach, Cassini is expected to pass approximately 1,580 kilometers (982
miles) above the moon's surface.
The colored lines delineate the regions that will be imaged at differing
resolutions. The lower resolution imaging sequences (outlined in blue)
are designed to study the atmosphere, clouds and surface in a variety of
spectral filters. Other areas have been specifically targeted for creation
of mosaics based on moderate resolution images of surface features. Two
small areas (outlined in yellow) will be seen at high resolution by
Cassini's narrow angle camera, and will be jointly covered by the visual
and mapping spectrometer experiment. These high resolution targets also
overlap areas covered by the Cassini radar altimetry and synthetic
aperture radar experiments.
The site where the Huygens probe landed in mid-January will be imaged at
lower resolution during this flyby and is within the terrain in the
extreme western part of the coverage area. The low-resolution imaging
coverage will extend farther east than the previous two close flybys in
October and December 2004. Some areas covered at moderate resolution
during previous flybys have been targeted again to allow Cassini
scientists to look for changes.
The map shows only brightness variations on Titan's surface (the
illumination is such that there are no shadows and no shading due to
topographic variations). Previous observations indicate that, due to
Titan's thick, hazy atmosphere, the sizes of surface features that can
be resolved are a few to five times larger than the actual pixel scale
labeled on the map.
The map was made from global images taken in June 2004, at image scales
of 35 to 88 kilometers (22 to 55 miles) per pixel, and south polar
coverage from July 2004, at an image scale of 2 kilometers (1.3 miles)
per pixel. The images were obtained using a narrow band filter centered
at 938 nanometers - a near-infrared wavelength (invisible to the human
eye) at which light can penetrate Titan's atmosphere to reach the surface
and return through the atmosphere to be detected by the camera. The images
have been processed to enhance surface details.
It is currently northern winter on Titan, so the moon's high northern
latitudes are not illuminated, resulting in the lack of coverage north of
45 degrees north latitude. Clouds near the south pole (see PIA06110) have also
been removed (south of -75 degrees).
At 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles) across, Titan is one of the solar
system's largest moons.
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.
