Radar image of Titan's surface
A new false-colour radar image of Titan, taken by the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, shows a sharp contrast between the moon's smooth and rough edges.
To provide a better perspective of the surface features, the colour image is shown with a black and white image that was previously released.
In the new colour image, brighter areas may correspond to rougher terrains, slopes facing the radar, or different materials. The pink colours enhance smaller details on the surface, while the green colour represents smoother areas.
Winding linear features that cut across dark areas may be ridges or channels, although their nature is not yet understood. A large dark circular feature is seen at the western (top left) end of the image, but very few features on Titan are seen resembling fresh impact craters.
The area shown is in the northern hemisphere of Titan and is about 150 kilometres wide by 300 kilometres long. The image is a part of a larger strip created from data taken on 26 October 2004, when the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft flew approximately 1200 kilometres above Titan's surface.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a co-operative project of NASA, ESA and ASI, the Italian space agency.
Credits: NASA/JPL
