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Cassini images dunelands on Saturn's moon Titan
by Brooks Hays
Pasadena, Calif. (UPI) Nov 2, 2015


disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

Cassini's documentation of Saturn and its myriad satellites continues. On Monday, NASA shared a new Cassini image showcasing the dunelands of Titan, the largest of Saturn's moons.

Through the haze of Titan's atmosphere, the image reveals two vast regions of dunes, Fensal to the north and Aztlan to the south. Titan's dunes are made of hydrocarbon sands. A patch of vertically oriented dunes connects the two regions, forming an dark H-like shape on the moon's otherwise white icy surface.

Composed mostly of water ice and rocky material, Titan is both strange and familiar. Like Earth, it boasts clouds, rain and lakes, but they're made of liquid methane and ethane.

Unlike Earth, Titan receives barely any sun. Yet, its atmosphere, comprised mostly of nitrogen with a small amount of methane, is twice as thick as Earth's. Methane's greenhouse gas effect keeps Titan warmer than it would otherwise be -- a balmy negative 179 degrees Celsius.

Despite the thick atmosphere, the moon hosts relatively few clouds, enabling Cassini to photograph its many unique features.

Cassini's infrared light imager captured the newly shared photo on July 25, 2015. The probe, which has been exploring Saturn and its moons since 2006, periodically surveys Titan for surface changes -- helping scientists better understand Titan's weather patterns and geological processes.


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Related Links
Explore The Ring World of Saturn and her moons
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SATURN DAILY
NASA spacecraft plunges through Saturn moon's icy spray
Miami (AFP) Oct 29, 2015
On the hunt for alien worlds that might support life, NASA's unmanned Cassini spacecraft has survived its closest-ever dive through the icy spray coming from Saturn's moon Enceladus. The flyby took place Wednesday at 11:22 am (1522 GMT), NASA said. The probe skimmed 30 miles (49 kilometers) above the moon's southern polar region, sampling and collecting data on the spray that is believed ... read more


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