ESA - Cassini-Huygens - Coasts and drowned mountains on Titan

Unique insights into a ringed world

About Cassini-Huygens

Cassini-Huygens mission facts The mission Cassini spacecraft Cassini instruments Huygens spacecraft Huygens instruments The launcher

About Saturn

Facts about Saturn Saturn's rings Saturn's moons Saturn's atmosphere Saturn's magnetosphere

About Titan

Facts about Titan Titan's atmosphere Titan's surface Life on Titan?

Meet the team

International collaboration Huygens Mission Team Cassini Project Team ASI Programme Manager Huygens investigators Cassini orbiter investigators (1)Cassini orbiter investigators (2)

Multimedia

VideoTalk Cassini-Huygens images Cassini-Huygens videos Titan virtual tour Hygens probe descent - multilingual CD-rom Download wallpapers Download screensavers 3D Flash 'model'SOI animation Waiting for Titan - the human side of Huygens

Watch the event

Press conference 2 Press conference Status report 6 Status report 5 Status report 4 Status report 3 Status report 2 Status report 1 Overview of events

Services

Comments

News

Coasts and drowned mountains on Titan

Coasts and drowned mountains on Titan

23 May 2007
Cassini completed its 31st flyby of Saturn's moon Titan On 12 May 2007. The RADAR instrument obtained this image showing the coastline and an archipelago in a portion of a large sea, consistent with the larger sea seen by the Cassini imaging instrument.

Like other liquid bodies seen on Titan, this feature reveals channels, islands, bays, and other features typical of terrestrial coastlines and the liquid, most likely a combination of methane and ethane, appears very dark in radar. What is striking about this portion of the sea compared to other liquid bodies on Titan is the relative absence of brighter regions within it, suggesting that the depth of the liquid here exceeds tens of metres.

Of particular note is the presence of isolated islands, which follow the same direction as the peninsula to their lower right, suggesting that they may be part of a mountain ridgeline that has been flooded. This is analogous to, for example, Catalina Island off the coast of southern California.

The image as shown is about 160 kilometres by 270 kilometres at a 300 - metre resolution. The image is centred at 70° North and 50° East.

Notes for editors:

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA and the Italian Space Agency.

Send this page to a friend

At Saturn and Titan

More about...

More on Cassini-Huygens spacecraft

Cassini images bizarre hexagon on Saturn Enceladus geysers mask the length of Saturn’s day A hot start might explain geysers on Enceladus Seas on Titan!Cassini images mammoth cloud engulfing Titan’s North Pole The jet stream of Titan Huygens’s second landing anniversary – the surprises continue Titan has liquid lakes!Tallest mountains ever seen on Titan imaged by Cassini Vast polar ethane cloud observed on Titan’s north pole Huygens Scientific Archive data set released How the world watched Huygens Titan's pebbles 'seen' by Huygens radio Cassini's radar spots 'Great Lakes' on Titan Landing on Titan – the new movies Movie of Titan's surface in the infrared