Titan's Surface Revealed Target Name:   Titan Spacecraft:   Cassini Orbiter Instrument:   Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer Produced by:   NASA/JPL/University of Arizona Copyright:  NASA Copyright Free Policy Cross Reference:   PIA06407 Date Released:  4 July 2004

• Saturn
• Saturn's Moon Titan
• Cassini at Titan

Piercing the ubiquitous layer of smog enshrouding Titan, these images from the Cassini visual and infrared mapping spectrometer reveals an exotic surface covered with a variety of materials in the southern hemisphere.

Using near-infrared colors -- some three times deeper in the red visible to the human eye -- these images reveal the surface with unusual clarity. The color image shows a false-color combination of the three previous images (see PIA06405). The yellow areas correspond to the hydrocarbon-rich regions, while the green areas are the icier regions. Here, the methane cloud appears white, as it is bright in all three colors.