Titan's topography, strange.... |
Titan's topography, strange.... |
Apr 12 2009, 12:44 PM
Post
#1
|
|
Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
Recent article in Science by Zebker et al.:
Zebker et al. Science in press, "Size and Shape of Saturn's Moon Titan". doi: 10.1126/science.1168905 (published online April 2, 2009) Link to abstract (pay-for article): http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1168905 Article on spaceref discusses this paper: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=27912 Figure 3 from the Science article is a global elevation map relative to barycenter. Key points of article:
"Xanadu seems to be systematically lower than other parts of the equatorial belt, and not uplifted like most mountainous areas on Earth." (quote from Fig. 3 caption in article) -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
|
|
|
Oct 7 2009, 12:34 AM
Post
#2
|
|
Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
This oval feature shown above is part of the "Spooky Dude" formation. It is the 3rd or fourth oval-thingy over from where the Huygens probe landed.
The center of this feature is 3 km (almost exactly) to the ESE from where the probe touched down. I used the final version of Soderblom's paper (Soderblom et al. Planetary and Space Sci 55 (2007) 2015-2024) and imported the gridded DEM and scale into Photoshop to make absolutely sure of the scale match. The DEM I used is the furthest left figure in Figure 7 of the text. The tippy-top of the ridge is at 180-200 m elevation. The lowest point of the oval-thingy (center of the oval) is at -20-0 m elevation. The difference is between 220-180 m from the bottom of the oval to the top of the (pink) ridge. The green beach in this structure is at 20-40 m elevation. This is about the level of the bright-dark margin. From the top of the (pink) ridge to the (green) beach of the oval, it is an elevation differential of 180-140 m. This is over a horizontal distance of (7.21 pixels x 23 m/pixel) 170 m from the top of the ridge to the beach. The slope angle is between 47 and 39 degrees. (Very steep - this argues against the bright stuff being unconsolidated material). From the beach down to the center of the oval, it is a differential of 80 - 40 m over a horizontal distance of (9.9 pixel x 23 m/pixel) 228 m. Thus the dark stuff is at an angle between 20 and 10 degrees. (The terrain break supports an argument that the dark stuff was deposited or reworked by fluid or that it is unconsolidated stuff.) -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
|
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 22nd September 2024 - 07:12 AM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |