Imaging of Titan from the Cassini spacecraft

Carolyn C. Porco (), Emily Baker, John Barbara, Kevin Beurle, Andre Brahic, Joseph A. Burns, Sebastien Charnoz, Nick Cooper, Douglas D. Dawson, Anthony D. Del Genio, Tilmann Denk, Luke Dones, Ulyana Dyudina, Michael W. Evans, Stephanie Fussner, Bernd Giese, Kevin Grazier, Paul Helfenstein, Andrew P. Ingersoll, Robert A. Jacobson, Torrence V. Johnson, Alfred McEwen, Carl D. Murray, Gerhard Neukum, William M. Owen, Jason Perry, Thomas Roatsch, Joseph Spitale, Steven Squyres, Peter Thomas, Matthew Tiscareno, Elizabeth P. Turtle, Ashwin R. Vasavada, Joseph Veverka, Roland Wagner and Robert West
Additional contact information
Carolyn C. Porco: Space Science Institute
Emily Baker: Space Science Institute
John Barbara: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Kevin Beurle: University of London
Andre Brahic: C.E. de Saclay, Université Paris 7
Joseph A. Burns: Cornell University
Sebastien Charnoz: C.E. de Saclay, Université Paris 7
Nick Cooper: University of London
Douglas D. Dawson: University of Arizona
Anthony D. Del Genio: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Tilmann Denk: Freie Universität
Luke Dones: Southwest Research Institute
Ulyana Dyudina: California Institute of Technology
Michael W. Evans: University of London
Stephanie Fussner: University of Arizona
Bernd Giese: Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center
Kevin Grazier: California Institute of Technology
Paul Helfenstein: Cornell University
Andrew P. Ingersoll: California Institute of Technology
Robert A. Jacobson: California Institute of Technology
Torrence V. Johnson: California Institute of Technology
Alfred McEwen: University of Arizona
Carl D. Murray: University of London
Gerhard Neukum: Freie Universität
William M. Owen: California Institute of Technology
Jason Perry: University of Arizona
Thomas Roatsch: Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center
Joseph Spitale: Space Science Institute
Steven Squyres: Cornell University
Peter Thomas: Cornell University
Matthew Tiscareno: Cornell University
Elizabeth P. Turtle: University of Arizona
Ashwin R. Vasavada: California Institute of Technology
Joseph Veverka: Cornell University
Roland Wagner: Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center
Robert West: California Institute of Technology

Nature, 2005, vol. 434, issue 7030, 159-168

Abstract: Abstract Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is the only satellite in the Solar System with a substantial atmosphere. The atmosphere is poorly understood and obscures the surface, leading to intense speculation about Titan's nature. Here we present observations of Titan from the imaging science experiment onboard the Cassini spacecraft that address some of these issues. The images reveal intricate surface albedo features that suggest aeolian, tectonic and fluvial processes; they also show a few circular features that could be impact structures. These observations imply that substantial surface modification has occurred over Titan's history. We have not directly detected liquids on the surface to date. Convective clouds are found to be common near the south pole, and the motion of mid-latitude clouds consistently indicates eastward winds, from which we infer that the troposphere is rotating faster than the surface. A detached haze at an altitude of 500 km is 150–200 km higher than that observed by Voyager, and more tenuous haze layers are also resolved.

Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03436 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:434:y:2005:i:7030:d:10.1038_nature03436

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature03436

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().