[X] My Assistant

[nprev]

I'm speakin' UG...my eyes are pre-crossed, and thank you!

Damn...just looking at your R/G stereo image without glasses is incredible. This topography is virtually indistinguishable from analogous terrestrial terrain; it's been said before on the board that it resembles the Pacific Northwest of the US or the British Columbian coast, and your image reinforces that perception./

This is not a conventional 'UMSF target object surface' as we've become accustomed to (not a single crater in sight, for example). Active, current modification processes are very much at work. Astonishing.

[ugordan]

The left one is the "clean" stereo pair, just as in that anaglyph, the right image was heavily denoised. I don't think it killed much actual detail in the process. In any case, I'm not sure just how much of the apparent parallax is real and how much is an artifact of the processing and map projection. You be the judge.
:::

[nprev]

You Croats are just way too cool...thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

That sinuous mountain ridge to the right of center is particularly striking, as well as the island right at the outflow point of the main canyon...how incredible this must look from the ground!

[dvandorn]

Yes, it's hard to say how reliable the stereo effect actually is in the images in ugordan's post. However, even without the stereo effect (but very much suggested by it), it sure looks like the bright markings along the left side of "New Manhattan" are tectonic features. Looks like the island pushed into something and its left edge was somewhat crumpled up. Whatever the juncture of the two masses looked like, it's now been completely eroded away into the channel that lies between the left side of the island and the larger "land" mass to its right.

-the other Doug

[Stu]

thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Took the words right out of my mouth... I'm in the process of making a Swear Bucket, having thrown my humble Swear Jar away as that image appeared on my screen... just stunning...

[ngunn]

Well! - A big thank you from me too. The relief certainly looks real to me from that anaglyph. The outstanding features seem to be narrow raised ridges surrounded by lower relief with outward drainage, rather than (say) a dissected plateau.

Another thing. I don't know what the vertical resolution might be here, but IF it were good enough to resolve relief on the lake bed (tens of metres?) then we'd suddenly know a lot more about the liquid via its transparency to radar.

[belleraphon1]

uugordon

you bring me to tears......

I never ever would have imagined that Titan was going to be this dynamic... this complex. Who could have guessed what wonder hid under that orange haze.

Since we have stereo radar...... can we truly pin altimetry with these passes?

WOW... the possibilities OUT THERE for the many worlds in the greater universe must be mind boggling.

Thanks to all the scientists, the mission teams, for battling through the process with blood, sweat, and tears, and the YEARS of patient waiting, and you UMSF mages, for bringing this treasure to us .....

Craig

[nprev]

WOW... the possibilities OUT THERE for the many worlds in the greater universe must be mind boggling.


Craig

Oh, yeah...no question at all that we ain't seen nothing yet, and our great exp n grandchildren will probably be able to say the same thing. Good thing I'm a robot; need to hang around a few hundred more years to watch the show unfold...

Just to get back on the tectonics thought: Is it just a coincidence that we see apparently tectonic processes at work in the vicinity of extensive surface fluid deposits? Not sure if/whether there is a cause & effect relationship, and there also seems to be a bit of chicken-and-egg uncertainty here as well...

[Juramike]

Looks like the island pushed into something and its left edge was somewhat crumpled up. Whatever the juncture of the two masses looked like, it's now been completely eroded away into the channel that lies between the left side of the island and the larger "land" mass to its right.

-the other Doug

There is a very cool polar map in Fig 1 of the following abstract: Mitchell et al Ice Oceans and Fire (2007) Abstract 6042. “Titan’s North Polar Lakes as observed by Cassini RADAR: An update.” (Abstract freely available here).

Approximate location of New Manhattan Island: (80N,305W)
"inner" vs "outer" diameter ratio (ratio of island inner diamter vs. outer "moat" diameter): 0.68
squish ratio (short island axis vs. long island axis): 0.54
squish vector: 340 N

[For those of you keeping score with the home game, the island matches really nicely with the putative Generation III diapirs in the Equatorial Sand Seas that were noted in the EXCEL sheet. And the squish vector is very similar to things identified in N Senkyo. Coincedanza?? Downright spooky... ]

I think this is some sort of crustal extrusion (ice pluton? ice batholith? ice diapir?) that extruded out of the marsh and has been subject to tectonic compresson (towards the NNW) and gotten roughed up during the squish. Then the rains came and eroded the heck out of it, carving deep valleys and sharpening the terrain, then washing sediments down into the moat and filling in the surrounding marsh.

The marsh land probably looks like a Titanian version of an alpine meadow (Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite?) with a massive rain carved ice pluton/diapir sticking rudely out of the marsh. Slow lazy brown streams of organic-laden methane creep slowly through a marshy slurry of deposited atmospheric products.

-Mike

[Juramike]

The T28 swath has an interesting feature in the bland zone between the Equatorial Sand Seas and the North Polar Lakes.



As the swath pulls away from Fensal, the area becomes one of really low contrast. Presumably we are looking at a landscape that has been buried in eons of atmospheric chemistry products brought down by seasonal rains. In the image below, there are alternating bands of dark medium and light medium RADAR reflecting surfaces. These are oriented roughly E-W and could be due to wind deposition of two different types of materials. (Think of huge fields of windblown snow or giant loess deposits). Also visible are bright white specks, these could be RADAR-bright rough ice monadnocks sticking out of the medium contrast schizzle. They are also oriented roughly E-W, which may also correspond to the local tectonic ridge alignment.

Red arrows indicate dunes that have formed alongside one of the partially buried ridges. It would be very interesting to see if these have the same VIMS signature as the dark brown unit of the Equatorial Sand Seas – or could they be dunes of a different material? They seem to have a slightly different aspect than the typical cat scratches, but this could be due to latitude or local meteorology differences.

In the zoomed in view in the middle, the deeply incised ridges are visible (especially in the orange boxes), but have been buried and almost swallowed up by deposited material. The tectonic ridges in this area appear different than those in the Equatorial Sand Seas. The ridges in this areaa appear more deeply carved by erosion instead of the rounder slightly more blobby "pearls on a string" look in the Sand Seas. Compare the aspect of these ridges with those from the T8 Belet-Shangri-La swath. (In the image, the ridge lines have been re-oriented for better comparison)

The entire mid-latitude landscape seems to be low contrast and uniform. Not a lot of exciting features seem to poke up through the schizzle.

Mid-latitudes of Titan: The Big Bland.

Who knows how many interesting features have been buried and hidden under this stuff?

-Mike

[Stu]

I never ever would have imagined that Titan was going to be this dynamic... this complex. Who could have guessed what wonder hid under that orange haze.

The details we're seeing now are simply stunning, and reinforces the view that I've had for a while now that Titan is just too big and complicated to be classed as a "moon". No, not re-opening the "what's a planet" debate, just asking if anyone else out there has bee thinking and feeling the same about Titan recently? Does anyone else now think of Titan as a planet whenever they see images like this..?

[ugordan]

Hey, Stu, where'd that anaglyph disappear?

[Stu]

Hey, Stu, where'd that anaglyph disappear?

To be honest I took it off when I realised it showed almost exactly the same field of view as yours, and wasn't half as clear!

But here, see what you think... I still kinda like the way the terrain "falls away" at the top there... nice feeling of height if nothing else...

[Juramike]

Does anyone else now think of Titan as a planet whenever they see images like this..?

Titan is an Ocean Planet.

-Mike

[belleraphon1]

Does anyone else now think of Titan as a planet whenever they see images like this..?

Titan shows that a subterrestrial planet can have a terrestrial face.

And BEACHES!!!!!

Craig