[X] My Assistant

[Guest_Kevin Heider_*]

New Titan Crater as of 09-10-06!
35km Crater with a central peak, dark floor, and ejecta. Probably the youngest of the 3 known Titan craters. Announcement coming from JPL later this week.

The other 2 Craters:
Menrva = 450km, multiple rings
Sinlap = 80km x 50km with flat floor

-- Kevin Heider

[dilo]

good... any image/link to see or we have to wait until end of week?

[slinted]

I was lucky enough to see the image of this crater this evening (were you there too Kevin?), at a lecture by Dr. Charles Wood of the Cassini RADAR team. Dr. Wood mentioned that it is the youngest looking crater seen so far. He also speculated that the ejecta was on top of the dune structure seen on the nearby surrounding plains.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

any sign of those lakes?

[ugordan]

Just what area did this swath cover? Equatorial latitudes? I understand this RADAR swath was shorter than the rest because the instrument wasn't given highest priority during C/A?

[tasp]

Would a big impact on Titan liberate atmospheric gases to space?

It seems the lower gravity would help this process, but the thickness of the atmosphere might 'dampen' it too.

Teller felt nukes on earth above 100 megatons or so might show this effect. Impactors on Titan generating craters in the 35 to 450 km range would certainly exceed 100 MT, but that deep atmosphere could dissipate an enormous amount of energy too.

I am wondering if over geologic time if Titan might have been significantly degassed this way.

[volcanopele]

Yeah, and from the ISS view of it, I would have never thought a crater was there. Blar, I'm throwing up my hands

[volcanopele]

Just what area did this swath cover? Equatorial latitudes? I understand this RADAR swath was shorter than the rest because the instrument wasn't given highest priority during C/A?

This "half-swath" covered portions of northeastern Xanadu and northwestern Fensal; INMS had prime pointing during C/A. The crater Kevin mentioned is in northwestern Fensal within a large, bright blob seen by ISS. The blob is certainly not circular, has no dark circular feature within (like at Bazaruto Facula with Sinlap), so perhaps it takes a while for dark material to enter craters (particularly small craters), and the bright blob represents the impact ejecta.

[volcanopele]

Probably the youngest of the 3 known Titan craters.

Wait a tick, are you saying that RADAR only claims to have seen 3 impact craters thus far??? What about the three in the T13 swath, one looking exactly like Sinlap, only much smaller (15 km across IIRC)?

[slinted]

Dr. Wood showed many slides of other craters/circular features, but specifically mentioned Sinlap and Menrva as the only 2 definite impact craters.
<paraphrase>Since yesterday, we now have 50% more impact craters to study!</paraphrase>

[volcanopele]

An image of the crater has been released:

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08737

Obviously, this looks like a relatively young crater, with clearly defined central peak and ejecta structures. You can also see that the crater floor immediately adjacent to the rim is rough, indicating mass wasting along the crater wall.

The RADAR team has also released another segment showing dunes in central Fensal wrapping around topographically higher bright features. Still trying to see if ISS has any good images of these features.

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08738

[dilo]

Thanks, Jason. This is a processed version, less defined but also less noisy:

I guess a radial structure and, possibly, some cracks on the right (or fluvial features?). Outside the ejecta region, great dunes fields...

[volcanopele]

Unfortunately, ISS does not have the its highest resolution coverage over these two RADAR cutouts.


PIA08737, the image showing the impact crater, is located, according to the caption, just to the lower left of center in the above cutout from the MONITORNA001 mosaic from T4 (March 31, 2005). However, I think that it maybe a better fit if the crater near the southwestern margin of the bright blob right of center.


The other release, showing several faculae in central Fensal, I think shows four bright features seen in the above cutout from the MONITORNA001 mosaic from T7 (September 7, 2005). The large bright feature at center top in the above attachment is likely not in the radar release.

Note, both RADAR releases trend from WNW to ENE.

[David]

I guess a radial structure and, possibly, some cracks on the right (or fluvial features?). Outside the ejecta region, great dunes fields...

That rille to the right of the ejecta region looks less likely to me to be a liquid-created feature than anything other linear feature (dunes aside) that I've seen on Titan.

The RADAR team has also released another segment showing dunes in central Fensal wrapping around topographically higher bright features. Still trying to see if ISS has any good images of these features.

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08738

What direction are the winds blowing from in this image? These landforms have very strange shapes.

[volcanopele]

For the record, I think the center latitude and longitude given in the caption for the crater image maybe off. It probably should be 13 North, 64 West, instead of 10 North, 70 West.

[volcanopele]

Following in the tradition of other Titan features with unpronouncable names, this 35-km wide impact crater has been given the name Ksa, after the Lakota and Oglala (South Dakota, USA) god of wisdom.

[tty]

Following in the tradition of other Titan features with unpronouncable names, this 35-km wide impact crater has been given the name Ksa, after the Lakota and Oglala (South Dakota, USA) god of wisdom.

If You think that's unpronouncable how about the poor fossil primate who also got saddled with a Lakota name: "Ekgmowechashala". It's supposed to mean "small fox-man".

tty