Cassini: Splitting Titan
Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 5:03 pm
NASA | JPL-Caltech | Cassini Solstice Mission | CICLOPS | 2012 May 28
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Splitting Titan
Light and dark halves of Titan are visible in this Cassini image which illustrates the seasonal changes in the northern and southern hemispheres. This picture was taken with a spectral filter that is sensitive to absorption of certain wavelengths of light by the methane present in the moon's atmosphere.
See Two Halves of Titan to learn more about this seasonal hemispheric dichotomy. This view looks toward the anti-Saturn side of Titan (3,200 miles, or 5,150 kilometers across). North on Titan is up and rotated 29 degrees to the right. The moon's north polar hood is also visible in the top right of the view (see Haze Layers on Titan and Titan's North Polar Hood).
The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Jan. 31, 2012 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 890 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 130,000 miles (210,000 kilometers) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 24 degrees. Image scale is 8 miles (12 kilometers) per pixel.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
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