- Original Caption Released with Image:
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This image of Saturn's moon Titan from the Synthetic Aperture Radar
instrument on the Cassini spacecraft shows the southwestern area of a
feature called Xanadu (bottom right of the image). The area is bright
because it reflects the radio wavelengths used to make this radar images.
The image was taken on April 30, 2006.
Xanadu is one of the most prominent features on Titan and was first seen
in ground-based observations. The origin of Xanadu is still unknown, but
this radar image reveals details previously unseen, such as numerous curvy
features that may indicate fluid flows. Linear dark streaks visible in
radar-dark areas are dune fields, also seen in previous radar images (see
PIA03567).
Near the center of the image is a prominent circular feature, named
Guabonito, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) in diameter. It might be an
impact crater or a cryovolcanic caldera. If this is an impact structure,
the absence of an ejecta blanket suggests that the feature has been highly
eroded, like some impact structures on Earth, or has been buried by the
dune fields. Other radar-bright areas (top left and top right) appear to
be topographically high and might act as obstacles, diverting the dunes
around them.
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 was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar
instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with
team members from the United States and several European countries.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm.
- Image Credit:
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NASA/JPL
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