PDS logoPlanetary Data System
PDS Information
Find a Node - Use these links to navigate to any of the 8 publicly accessible PDS Nodes.

This bar indicates that you are within the PDS enterprise which includes 6 science discipline nodes and 2 support nodes which are overseen by the Project Management Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Each node is led by an expert in the subject discipline, supported by an advisory group of other practitioners of that discipline, and subject to selection and approval under a regular NASA Research Announcement.
Click here to return to the Photojournal Home Page Click here to view a list of Photojournal Image Galleries Photojournal_inner_header
Latest Images  |  Spacecraft & Technology  |  Animations  |  Space Images App  |  Feedback  |  Photojournal Search  

PIA12849: Channels and Minerals at Hotei Regio
 Target Name:  Titan
 Is a satellite of:  Saturn
 Mission:  Cassini-Huygens
 Spacecraft:  Cassini Orbiter
 Instrument:  Radar Mapper
Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer
 Product Size:  2480 x 3232 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA12849.tif (24.07 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA12849.jpg (890.1 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

Cassini scientists are using images like these to try to decipher whether slushy ice volcanoes are erupting today on Saturn's moon Titan.

At top, data from the visual and infrared spectrometer aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft show the mineral and chemical make-up of the Hotei Regio area of Saturn's moon Titan. Blue lines on that map show the location of channels that stand out in the radar mapper image. At bottom, the original radar image shows how brightly the channels appear in contrast to darker surrounding terrain.

Another view of the data is shown in PIA12848.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL 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. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/USGS/UA

Image Addition Date:
2010-02-25