Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.3404n&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #34.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.457
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Instruments on the Cassini Saturn Orbiter have been observing the surface of the satellite Titan since mid 2004. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) reports that regions near 26oS, 78oW (region 1) and 7oS, 138oW (region 2) exhibit photometric changes consistent with surface activity; they are photometrically variable with time(1). Cassini Synthetic Aperture Rader (SAR) has investigated these regions and reports that both of these regions exhibit morphologies consistent with cryovolcanism (2). VIMS observed region 1 eight times and reported that on two occasions the region brightened two-fold and then decreased again on timescales of several weeks. Region 2 was observed on four occasions (Tb-Dec13/2004 ,T8-Oct27/2005, T10-Jan15/2006, T12-Mar18/2006) and exhibited a pronounced change in I/F betweenT8 and T10. Our photometric analysis finds that both regions do not exhibit photometric properties consistent with atmospheric phenomenon such as tropospheric clouds. These changes must be at or very near the surface. We conclude that the VIMS instrument has found two instances in which selected regions on Titan's surface become unusually reflective and remained reflective on time scales of days to months. In both cases the size of reflectance variability is large, larger than either Loki or the Big Island of Hawaii. This is a strong case for currently active surface processes on Titan. Pre-Cassini, Titan was thought of as a pre-biotic earth that was frozen in time. Cassini VIMS and SAR observations combined suggest that Titan is the present day is in no way frozen, and is instead an episodically changing or evolving world.
References: [1] Nelson R. M. et al, LPSC 2007 , Europlanets 2007, AGU 2007, EGU 2008,. [2] Lopes et al (this meeting), Stofan et al. Icarus 185, 443-456, 2007. Lopes et al. Icarus 186, 395-412, 2007. Kirk et al., DPS 2007.
Acknowledgement: This work done at JPL/NASA
Cassini VIMS SAR Titan surface variability Group
Nelson Robert M.
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