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Article Images
Does Titan's methane originate from underground?
 
1 March 2006

Titan's complex  atmosphere
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This natural colour image shows Titan's upper atmosphere - an active place where methane molecules are being broken apart by solar ultraviolet light and the byproducts combine to form compounds like ethane and acetylene.

Lower down in the atmosphere, the haze turns into a globe-enshrouding smog of complex organic molecules. This thick, orange-coloured haze absorbs visible sunlight, allowing only perhaps 10 percent of the light to reach the surface.

This image was taken with the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera using red, green and blue spectral filters, which were combined to create this natural colour view.

The images were obtained at a distance of approximately 9500 kilometres from Titan on 31 March 2005. The image scale is approximately 400 metres per pixel.

Credits: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

 
 
Mosaic of river channel and ridge area on Titan
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This mosaic of three frames provides unprecedented detail of the high ridge area including the flow down into a major river channel from different sources.

Credits: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
 
 
Cassini approaches Saturn
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Artist's impression of the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini-Huygens spacecraft orbiting Saturn and its magnificent rings. The glint of light behind the magnetometer boom at the bottom of the spacecraft is a reflection of the Sun.

Credits: NASA
 
 
At Saturn and TitanViews on approach to Saturn
Looking at Mars
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Related links
Mars Express instrumentsHuygens instrumentsCassini instruments
 
 
 
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