Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Planetary Photo Journal Collection
Title:
Titan Sea and Lake Superior
Original Caption Released with Image:

Annotated Version

This side-by-side image shows a Cassini radar image (on the left) of what is the largest body of liquid ever found on Titan's north pole, compared to Lake Superior (on the right). This close-up is part of a larger image (see PIA09182) and offers strong evidence for seas on Titan. These seas are most likely liquid methane and ethane.

This feature on Titan is at least 100,000 square kilometers (39,000 square miles), which is greater in extent than Lake Superior (82,000 square kilometers or 32,000 square miles), which is one of Earth's largest lakes. The feature covers a greater fraction of Titan than the largest terrestrial inland sea, the Black Sea. The Black Sea covers 0.085 percent of the surface of the Earth; this newly observed body on Titan covers at least 0.12 percent of the surface of Titan. Because of its size, scientists are calling it a sea.

The image on the right is from the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) project, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, 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.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/GSFC
Produced By:
JPL
Mission:
Cassini
Spacecraft:
Cassini Orbiter
Target Name:
Titan
Is a satellite of:
Saturn
Instrument:
Radar Mapper
Product Size:
604 samples x 357 lines
Primary Data Set:
Cassini
facet_what:
Earth
facet_what:
Saturn
facet_what:
Cassini
facet_what:
Titan
facet_what:
Cassini Orbiter
facet_what:
Huygens Probe
facet_what:
Cassini-Huygens
facet_what:
Radar Mapper
facet_what:
Titan (Saturn Moon)
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
facet_where:
Saturn
facet_where:
California
facet_where:
Washington
facet_where:
Black Sea
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where:
Washington, D.C.
facet_where:
United States of America
Image #:
PIA09184
UID:
SPD-PHOTJ-PIA09184
orignial url:

Titan Sea and Lake Superior