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The Cassini spacecraft examine Titan's dark and light seasonal hemispheric dichotomy as it images the moon with a filter sensitive to near-infrared light. The image was taken May 22, 2010.
This was a post-dusk, upstream, high altitude 'blind' flyby that will be useful to characterize the background magnetic field in which Titan sits. The Cassini plasma spectrometer (CAPS) observed Titan's plasma interaction as the moon moves from south to north of Saturn's solar-wind-warped magnetodisk from one solstice to the next. Radio science (RSS) conducted a collaborative observation with CAPS. The RSS instrument team has two related goals: measure the fluid and dynamic Love number of Titan and determine Titan's geoid. The determination of the fluid Love number is the only way to find out with confidence whether Titan has a liquid ocean. The determination of the geoid is crucial to understanding the internal structure of Titan through correlative analysis of the gravity and Radar planetary radii data.
Date
Feb. 18, 2011
Altitude
2,269 miles (3,651 km)
Speed
13,000 mph (5.8 km/sec)
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Last Updated
Nov 06, 2024
Editor
NASA Science Editorial Team
