Rev172-T86 September 2012 Options

[ngunn]

The flyby page is up at the Cassini website. For me, the best thing about it is the image they feature. Have we seen NASA's own version of this image before? Anyhow it's beautiful: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA14924

[titanicrivers]

Ian R's version of the S pole vortex storm is also quite impressive. http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&p=184880
Such photos suggest the storm may reach down to the surface or at least the troposphere and its not just an upper atmosphere phenomenon. I am curious as to what lies beneath this vortex in terms of ethane-methane precipitation!

[volcanopele]

Keep in mind a couple of things. First, the shadow of Titan includes both the opaque portion of the atmosphere (so the lower 200-250 km or so), not just the solid body of Titan. Second, that view is not centered right over the equator, but slightly north of it, so you are not quite viewing it edge on.

[Bjorn Jonsson]

A quick and dirty RGB composite from WAC images obtained on September 27, 2012 at a range of 198,000 km:



The sharpness of the south polar vortex has been increased slightly with an unsharp mask. More details are visible in the VIO filtered images, including hints of 'cloud belts' parallel (I think but I haven't checked it carefully) to the equator:



The VIO images have a mottled appearance and really need flatfielding. In the image above I succeeded in removing some of the mottling. I then sharpened it a bit to better reveal details near the south pole.

[elakdawalla]

Some time ago I wrote an article titled "Uranus is no longer boring" -- I think it's time for an article called "Titan['s atmosphere] is no longer boring." This is fascinating to watch. I'll have to check for talks on the vortex at DPS...

[remcook]

The DPS program doesn't seem to be working at the moment, but Bob West has a talk on this vortex feature from ISS images, Nick Teanby, Athena Coustenis and Sandrine Vinatier have talks about seasonal changes of trace gases.

[Bjorn Jonsson]

I decided to take a look at older PDS data in search of possible 'cloud belts' and other atmospheric features since the PDS images are superior to the JPGs for low contrast targets like Titan. The first result can be seen in this thread.

[belleraphon1]

I just love these full disk color images of Titan. Whatta world wrapped in mysteries..... I just want to dive in....

Craig

[titanicrivers]

Several articles have appeared today describing a 'Nile-Like' River on Titan. http://www.space.com/18877-mini-nile-river...inds-video.html
The interest regards release of a portion of the T-86 flyby SAR that was nicely described in the Ciclops Looking Ahead post http://www.ciclops.org/view/7352/Rev172
From that description it was not hard to find this river and in fact those who follow UMSF blogs closely will recall those wonderful rivers entering Legeia from the east and south east in the T-28 SAR taken on April 10, 2007.
The images below locate the latest radar view of this fine river and a blink comparison with its 2007 SAR appearance is presented in the second figure. I for one did not appreciate any major changes in the tributaries over this time period.
The latest SAR image seems to be a higher resolution of this alien but still familiar landscape in Titan's north polar region.

[stevesliva]

Squinted at your nice blink comparison to see if perhaps there is more sign of a delta... nope.

[JRehling]

That's some phenomenal image processing and the right type of question to be asking.

Given the pace of rains on Titan, it would not be surprising if such evolution is very, very slow. For the Mississippi River, the delta grows at the pace of about 1 km / 100 years, and that's draining an area with (by Titan standards) extremely frequent rain. And with downslope acceleration due to gravity 7 times as great.

It's great to be capturing this data now, though. If we don't see a change by 2015, maybe by 2115...

[NickF]

Several articles have appeared today describing a 'Nile-Like' River on Titan. http://www.space.com/18877-mini-nile-river...inds-video.html

I hope you'll forgive an interlude from Coleridge

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea"

[titanicrivers]

Indeed with Titan's opaque atmosphere Ligeia is a 'sunless sea'. Don't know if this river has an official name as yet.
Image below of the delta from T28 and T86 colorized and gradually overlain for Stevesliva (so he doesn't have to squint !)

[antipode]

Does the IAU have a naming convention for extraterrestrial rivers? I dont mean the clearly dry ones on Mars, or lava channels there or anywhere else, but these babbling, bubbling (well, you can imagine) babies...

P

[SFJCody]

Rivers are officially called flumina (flumen singular). The one example is a group of rivers designated Elivagar Flumina, apparently from Norse mythology. So Titanian rivers are named after mythological rivers.