CICLOPS: Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for OPerationS
Titan's Many Layers

Cassini has found Titan's upper atmosphere to consist of a surprising number of layers of haze as is shown in this ultraviolet image of Titan's nightside limb, colorized to look like true color. The many fine haze layers extend several hundred kilometers above the surface. Although this is a nightside view, with only a thin crescent receiving direct sunlight, the haze layers are bright from light scattered through the atmosphere. About 12 distinct haze layers can be seen in this image, with a scale of 0.7 kilometers (.43 miles) per pixel. The limb shown here is at about 10 degrees S. latitude, in the equatorial region.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The imaging team consists of scientists from the US, England, France, and Germany. The imaging operations center and team lead (Dr. C. Porco) are based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Released: December 16, 2004 (PIA 06160, 06161)
Image/Caption Information 		  Titan's Many Layers
PIA 06160
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Titan's Many Layers
PIA 06161
Avg Rating: 10/10

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