Image: Sotra Facula, Titan
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS/University of Arizona
Based on data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, this image shows an area of Saturn's moon Titan, known as Sotra Facula.
Scientists believe Sotra is the best case for a cryovolcano, or ice volcano.
The flyover shows two peaks more than 3,000 feet (about 1,000 meters) tall and multiple craters as deep as 5,000 feet (1,500 meters).
The image also shows finger-like flows, which also indicate the presence cryovolcanism.
The 3-D topography comes from Cassini's radar instrument. Topography has been vertically exaggerated by a factor of 10.
The false color in the initial frames shows different compositions of surface material as detected by Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer.
In this color scheme, dunes tend to look relatively brown-blue.
Blue suggests the presence of some exposed ice. Scientists think the bright areas have an organic coating that hides the ice and is different and lighter than the dunes.
The finger-like flows appear bright yellowish-white, like the mountain and caldera.
The second set of colors shows elevation, with blue being lowest and yellow and white being the highest. Dunes here appear blue because they tend to occupy low areas.
The finger-like flows are harder to see in the elevation data, indicating that they are thin, maybe less than about 300 feet (about 100 meters) thick.
Provided by
JPL/NASA
-
From lemons to lemonade: Reaction uses carbon dioxide to make carbon-based semiconductor,
28 comments
-
Thioridazine kills cancer stem cells in human while avoiding toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments,
3 comments
-
SpaceX private rocket blasts off for space station (Update),
41 comments
-
Climate scientists say they have solved riddle of rising sea,
30 comments
-
Scotland passes turbine test to harness tidal power,
40 comments
-
revamping general concept and cosmological principle
17 hours ago
-
Transiting Exoplanet Light Curve
May 25, 2012
-
Math behind Theoretical Physics
May 24, 2012
-
Do we know whats at the center of galaxies yet?
May 23, 2012
-
Structure of the Milky Way?
May 20, 2012
-
What would it take to terraform Pluto and Charon?
May 19, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - General Astronomy
More news stories
Dragon arrives at space station in historic 1st (Update 2)
The privately bankrolled Dragon capsule made a historic arrival at the International Space Station on Friday, triumphantly captured by astronauts wielding a giant robot arm.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
20 hours ago |
5 / 5 (8) |
13
Dragon makes history with space station docking
The private company SpaceX made history Friday with the docking of its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station, the most impressive feat yet in turning routine spaceflight over to the commercial ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
13 hours ago |
4.8 / 5 (6) |
0
Aliens don't want to eat us, says former SETI director
Alien life probably isnt interested in having us for dinner, enslaving us or laying eggs in our bellies, according to a recent statement by former SETI director Jill Tarter.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
22 hours ago |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
26
SKA super telescope to be built in Australia, South Africa (Update 2)
A long-running joust to host a radio telescope that would give mankind its farthest peek into the Universe ended on Friday with a Solomon-like judgement to split the site between Australia and South Africa.
22 hours ago |
5 / 5 (5) |
2
NASA sees Hurricane Bud threaten western Mexico's coast
NASA satellites are providing rainfall, temperature, pressure, visible and infrared data to forecasters as Hurricane Bud is expected to make a quick landfall in western Mexico this weekend before turning back ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
16 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Of mice and mental models: Neuroscientific implications of risk-optimized behavior in the mouse
(Medical Xpress) -- Regardless of an organism’s biological complexity, every encephalized animal continuously makes under-informed behavioral choices that can have serious consequences. Despite its ubiquity, ...
Landmark calculation clears the way to answering how matter is formed
(Phys.org) -- An international collaboration of scientists, including Thomas Blum, associate professor of physics, is reporting in landmark detail the decay process of a subatomic particle called a kaon ...
High-speed method to aid search for solar energy storage catalysts
Eons ago, nature solved the problem of converting solar energy to fuels by inventing the process of photosynthesis.
It's in the genes: Research pinpoints how plants know when to flower
Scientists believe they've pinpointed the last crucial piece of the 80-year-old puzzle of how plants "know" when to flower.
Researchers solve structure of human protein critical for silencing genes
In a study published in the journal Cell on May 24, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientists describe the three-dimensional atomic structure of a human protein bound to a piece of RNA that "guides" the pr ...
MIT researchers devise new means to synchronize a group of robots (w/ Video)
(Phys.org) -- For several years, roboticists have been working out ways to get a group of robots to perform synchronized activities as demonstrated most often in dance routines. Its not just about trying ...
Dec 20, 2010
Rank: not rated yet