Zusammenfassung
Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is the only satellite in the Solar
System with a substantial atmosphere. The atmosphere is poorly understood
and obscures the surface, leading to intense speculation about Titan's
nature. Here we present observations of Titan from the imaging Science
experiment onboard the Cassini spacecraft that address some of these
issues. The images reveal intricate surface albedo features that
suggest aeolian, tectonic and fluvial processes; they also show a
few circular features that could be impact structures. These observations
imply that substantial surface modification has occurred over Titan's
history. We have not directly detected liquids on the surface to
date. Convective clouds are found to be common near the south pole,
and the motion of mid-latitude clouds consistently indicates eastward
winds, from which we infer that the troposphere is rotating faster
than the surface. A detached haze at an altitude of 500 km is 150200
km higher than that observed by Voyager, and more tenuous haze layers
are also resolved.
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