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Blobrana


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RE: Titan
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NASA'S Cassini spacecraft will return to Titan's southern hemisphere on a flyby tomorrow, Jan. 12, plunging to within about 1,050 kilometres of the hazy moon's surface. During this pass, the onboard radar instrument will scan Ontario Lacus, the largest lake in the southern hemisphere, in a quest to learn more about the liquid methane and ethane in the lake and obtain more detailed topographical information about the shoreline. Titan is the only other body in the solar system besides Earth that is known to have stable liquid on its surface.
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Blobrana


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The Cassini spacecraft will make a close flyby over Titan's south pole on the 12th January, 2010. During this pass RADAR will observe Ontario Lacus, to see any changes due to evaporation at the methane and ethane lake near the south pole.


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Blobrana


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Titan Rotation



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Blobrana


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Sikun Labyrinthus
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The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has approved the name Sikun Labyrinthus for a 175-km-wide feature located at -77.9 S, 28.9 W on Titan.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved the term labyrinthus with the theme "Planetary Names from the Dune science fiction novels by author Frank Herbert" for use on Titan.
The planet of Sikun in Dune was the native home to the Akarso plant.



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Blobrana


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Caltech scientists discover fog on Titan

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, looks to be the only place in the solar system--aside from our home planet, Earth--with copious quantities of liquid (largely, liquid methane and ethane) sitting on its surface. According to planetary astronomer Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Earth and Titan share yet another feature, which is inextricably linked with that surface liquid: common fog.
The presence of fog provides the first direct evidence for the exchange of material between the surface and the atmosphere, and thus of an active hydrological cycle, which previously had only been known to exist on Earth.

tifogage1.jpg
Credit: Mike Brown/Caltech
Fingers of fog can be seen moving across the south pole of Titan in this image constructed by Mike Brown and his colleagues using data from the Cassini spacecraft.

In a talk to be delivered December 18 at the American Geophysical Union's 2009 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, Brown, the Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor and professor of planetary astronomy, details evidence that Titan's south pole is spotted "more or less everywhere" with puddles of methane that give rise to sporadic layers of fog. (Technically, fog is just a cloud or bank of clouds that touch the ground).
Brown and his colleagues also describe their findings in a recent paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Source: California Institute of Technology

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Blobrana


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The Cassini Spacecraft using it's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIMS) to capture the first specular reflection, or flash of sunlight, reflected off a lake on Saturn's moon Titan.
The image confirms the presence of liquid on the southern hemisphere of Titan.
Scientists using VIMS had confirmed the presence of liquid in Ontario Lacus, the largest lake in the southern hemisphere, in 2008.
Cassini scientists had been looking for specular reflections, since the spacecraft began orbiting Saturn in 2004.
The northern hemisphere was shrouded in darkness for nearly 15 years, but the sun began to directly illuminate the northern lakes recently as it approached the equinox of August 2008, the start of spring in the northern hemisphere.

titspecb.jpg
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Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Titan's atmosphere blocks out reflections of sunlight in most wavelengths. This image was captured on July 8, 2009.
This image was created using wavelengths of light in the 5 micron range.
The image will be presented on the 18th  December, at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

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tit141209b.jpg
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Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

This image of Titan was taken by the Cassini spaceprobe on the 14th December, 2009 when it was approximately 963,601 kilometres away.
The image was taken using the CL1 and CB3 filters.

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Titan121209a8b.jpg
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Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

This image of Titan was taken by the Cassini spaceprobe on the 12th  December, 2009 when it was approximately 178,398 kilometres away.
The image was taken using the CL1 and CB3 filters.

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Blobrana


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Titan121209a7b.jpg
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Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

This image of Titan was taken by the Cassini spaceprobe on the 12th  December, 2009 when it was approximately 127,763 kilometres away.
The image was taken using the CL1 and CB3 filters.

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Titan121209a6b.jpg
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Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

This image of Titan was taken by the Cassini spaceprobe on the 12th  December, 2009 when it was approximately 122,826 kilometres away.
The image was taken using the CL1 and CB3 filters.

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