Friday, July 21, 2006

Earthlike Regions on Titan

Earthlike Regions on Titan


Xanadu region on Titan. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI
Xanadu region on Titan. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI
Click to enlarge
New radar images of Titan show surprisingly familiar terrain on Saturn's largest moon. The radar images show a strip 4,500 km (2,796 miles) long, straight through the Xanadu region. Some images show hills, valleys and dark sand dunes cut by river networks - the similarity to Earth is striking. Of course, Titan is so cold it can't be water; these rivers are probably formed by liquid methane or ethane. Cassini will return to Titan on Saturday, July 22 and capture images of the northern latitudes.
   


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