Channels and Minerals at Hotei Regio

Cassini scientists are using images like these to try to decipher whether slushy ice volcanoes are erupting today on Saturn’s moon Titan.

At top, data from the visual and infrared spectrometer aboard NASA’s Cassini spacecraft show the mineral and chemical make-up of the Hotei Regio area of Saturn’s moon Titan. Blue lines on that map show the location of channels that stand out in the radar mapper image. At bottom, the original radar image shows how brightly the channels appear in contrast to darker surrounding terrain.

Another view of the data is shown in Looking for Ice Volcano Flows at Hotei Regio.

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, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.

Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS/UA