Size and Shape of Saturn's Moon Titan

Details Size and Shape of Saturn's Moon Titan Size and Shape of Saturn's Moon Titan

May 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009sci...324..921z&link_type=abstract

Science, Volume 324, Issue 5929, pp. 921- (2009).

Physics

24

Scientific paper

Cassini observations show that Saturn’s moon Titan is slightly oblate. A fourth-order spherical harmonic expansion yields north polar, south polar, and mean equatorial radii of 2574.32 ± 0.05 kilometers (km), 2574.36 ± 0.03 km, and 2574.91 ± 0.11 km, respectively; its mean radius is 2574.73 ± 0.09 km. Titan’s shape approximates a hydrostatic, synchronously rotating triaxial ellipsoid but is best fit by such a body orbiting closer to Saturn than Titan presently does. Titan’s lack of high relief implies that most—but not all—of the surface features observed with the Cassini imaging subsystem and synthetic aperture radar are uncorrelated with topography and elevation. Titan’s depressed polar radii suggest that a constant geopotential hydrocarbon table could explain the confinement of the hydrocarbon lakes to high latitudes.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Size and Shape of Saturn's Moon Titan does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Size and Shape of Saturn's Moon Titan, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Size and Shape of Saturn's Moon Titan will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1111749