PIA07238: Water Ice and Methane Springs


Water Ice and Methane Springs

Caption:

A single Huygens Descent Imager/ Spectral Radiometer (DISR) instrument image shows two new features on the surface of Titan. A bright linear feature suggests an area where water ice may have been extruded onto the surface. Also visible are short, stubby dark channels that may have been formed by 'springs' of liquid methane rather than methane 'rain.'

The Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer is one of two NASA instruments on the probe.

Background Info:

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 Descent Imager/Spectral team is based at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . For more information about the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer visit http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~kholso/ .

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Titan
System Saturn
Target Type Satellite
Mission Cassini-Huygens
Instrument Host Huygens Probe
Host Type Probe Lander
Instrument Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer (DISR)
Detector
Extra Keywords Grayscale, Methane, Water
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2005-01-21
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL/ESA/University of Arizona
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07238
Identifier PIA07238