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Published October 7, 2005 | public
Journal Article

A 5-Micron-Bright Spot on Titan: Evidence for Surface Diversity

Abstract

Observations from the Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer show an anomalously bright spot on Titan located at 80°W and 20°S. This area is bright in reflected light at all observed wavelengths, but is most noticeable at 5 microns. The spot is associated with a surface albedo feature identified in images taken by the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem. We discuss various hypotheses about the source of the spot, reaching the conclusion that the spot is probably due to variation in surface composition, perhaps associated with recent geophysical phenomena.

Additional Information

© 2005 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received for publication 7 July 2005; accepted 9 September 2005. Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and NASA. The observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. This work was funded by the Cassini project. Authors from U.S. institutions were funded by NASA; authors from European institutions were funded by the European Space Agency.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 19, 2023