The Cassini probe has sent new images from Titan

2 15. 10. 2022
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The sun was just above the north pole of Saturn's moon Titan. We were lucky for the good weather and we managed to lead the Cassini probe to the optimal position. The probe has sent us new photos of liquid methane and ethane, which form liquid lakes and oceans at the north pole of the moon. The images show us new indications of how the lakes are formed and how hydrological cycles occur on Titan, which obviously contain more hydrocarbons than ordinary waters.

Although there is one large lake and a few small ones near Titan's South Pole, most lakes are mainly closer to the north. Scientists have been able to explore much of the moon's surface thanks to radar that can penetrate clouds and thick fog. Only now, thanks to Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer and imaging science subsystem, have it been possible to capture distant and oblique areas that have hitherto been only partially visible in the area.

The images we see are composed of a mosaic of photographs taken in infrared light. They were created on the basis of data that we obtained during the flights on 10.07., 26.07. and 12.09.2013. The mosaic, composed of color visualizations and photographs from an infrared mapping spectrometer, points to differences in the composition of the material around the lakes. The data suggest that some parts of the lakes and seas on Titan evaporate, creating equivalents of arid salt lakes as we do on Earth. In the case of Titan, however, it will obviously be organic chemicals that come from a haze that once dissolved in liquid methane. In the photos we can identify them under the orange color against the greenish background, which rather represents water ice.

"Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer shots give us a holistic view of areas we previously saw only in small pieces and in low resolution," said Jason Barnes, one of the collaborating scientists at the University of Idaho (Moscow). "Titan's North Pole turns out to be even more interesting than we thought. There is a complex interplay of liquids, which form lakes and seas and there are remnants of evaporated (dry) lakes and seas. ".

The nearest infrared images show us the clear structure of the terrain in the northern part of the country full of lakes that were not seen before. The bright areas suggest that the surface in this area is completely unique from the rest of Titan, which could explain why most of the lakes are located here.

The lakes on Titan have clearly defined boundaries that form steep walls. There are only speculations about the reasons for this arrangement.

"Ever since we discovered the lakes and seas, we've been wondering why they're concentrated in high northern latitudes," said Elizabeth (Zibi) Turtle, a teammate from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md. "It seems that something special is happening on the surface in a given area. That will probably be the main guide in finding the right explanation. "

The mission began on October 15.10.1997, 01.07.2004 with the launch of a rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida (USA). The probe did not reach its target until 30. Since then, he has been fulfilling his mission here. One year of Saturn corresponds to XNUMX years on Earth. The probe thus managed to map almost one third of Saturn's year. On Saturn and its moons (bodies), we could see the course of the seasons in the northern hemispheres ranging from winter to summer.

"The northern lakes of Titan are one of the most Earth-like and also the most fantastic areas in our solar system," said Linda Spilker, a Cassini scientific working project based at NASA JPL in Pasadena, California. "We have found that the lakes here change due to the seasons, and the Cassini spacecraft gives us the opportunity to see how it is going. Now that the sun is shining over the northern hemisphere, we can see these beautiful images. As a result, we can begin to compare different data sets and argue about why the lakes on Titan are doing near the North Pole. ”

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a project of international cooperation between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL runs a mission for NASA Science Mission, Washington. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena runs JPL for NASA. The VIMS team is based at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Imaging Technology Operator runs at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado.

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