File:PIA18431-SaturnMoon-Titan-SouthPoleVortex-Cloud-20121129.jpg
Original file (1,203 × 774 pixels, file size: 208 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
Summary
| Description |
English: Spectral Map of Titan with Polar Vortex
October 1, 2014 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=pia18431 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-331&2 These two views of Saturn's moon Titan show the southern polar vortex, a huge, swirling cloud that was first observed by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in 2012. The view at left is a spectral map of Titan obtained with the Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) on Nov. 29, 2012. The inset image is a natural-color close-up of the polar vortex taken by Cassini's wide-angle camera (part of the view previously released as PIA14925). Three distinct components are evident in the VIMS image, represented by different colors: the surface of Titan (orange, near center), atmospheric haze along the limb (light green, at top) and the polar vortex (blue, at lower left). To the VIMS instrument, the spectrum of the southern polar vortex shows a remarkable difference with respect to other portions of Titan's atmosphere: a signature of frozen hydrogen cyanide molecules (HCN). This discovery has suggested to researchers that the atmosphere of Titan's southern hemisphere is cooling much faster than expected. Observing seasonal shifts like this in the moon's climate is a major goal for Cassini's current extended mission. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA. The VIMS team is based at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org. The VIMS image was processed by Remco de Kok. |
| Date | |
| Source | http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA18431.jpg |
| Author | NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/University of Arizona/SSI/Leiden Observatory and SRON |
Licensing
|
The copyright holder of this file, NASA/JPL-Caltech, allows anyone to use it for any purpose, provided that the copyright holder is properly attributed. Redistribution, derivative work, commercial use, and all other use is permitted. |
|
|
 
|
According to JPL's image use policy additional restriction is that no endorsement of any product or service by Caltech, JPL or NASA is claimed or implied.
Caltech's disclaimer: Caltech makes no representations or warranties with respect to ownership of copyrights in the images, and does not represent others who may claim to be authors or owners of copyright of any of the images, and makes no warranties as to the quality of the images. Caltech shall not be responsible for any loss or expenses resulting from the use of the images, and you release and hold Caltech harmless from all liability arising from such use. Usage on the English Wikipedia: On the English Wikipedia you can use the {{JPL Image}} template to display the copyright notice. (See w:Wikipedia:Using JPL images for details) |
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 17:25, 12 December 2018 | | 1,203 × 774 (208 KB) | Kesäperuna | 100% JPEG quality from full quality TIFF. |
File usage
The following page uses this file:
