This image shows Titan in ultraviolet
and infrared wavelengths. It was taken by
Cassini's imaging science subsystem on Oct. 26,
2004, and is constructed from four images acquired
through different color filters. Red and green
colors represent infrared wavelengths and show
areas where atmospheric methane absorbs light.
These colors reveal a brighter (redder) northern
hemisphere. Blue represents ultraviolet
wavelengths and shows the high atmosphere and
detached hazes.
Titan has a gigantic atmosphere, extending
hundreds of kilometers above the surface. The
sharp variations in brightness on Titan's surface
(and clouds near the south pole) are apparent at
infrared wavelengths. The image scale of this
picture is 6.4 kilometers (4 miles) per pixel.
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
Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter
and its two onboard cameras were designed,
developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team
is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder,
Colo.
For the latest news about the Cassini-Huygens
mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.
For more information about the mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/
and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org/
.
Image
Credit:
NASA/JPL/Space Science
Institute
