NASA’s Cassini Views Cloud Bands Drifting Across Titan

Astronomers View Cloud Bands Streaking Across Titan

Methane clouds drifting across Saturn’s moon Titan. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

This newly released image from NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft shows feathery methane clouds drifting across Saturn’s moon Titan. The Cassini Spacecraft captured the image on May 7, 2017 when it passed 303,000 miles (488,000 kilometers) above the moon’s surface.

Although Cassini will have no further close, targeted flybys of Titan, the spacecraft continues to observe the giant moon and its atmosphere from a distance.

The dark regions at the top are Titan’s hydrocarbon lakes and seas.

See PIA21610 for another view of these clouds.

The view is an orthographic projection centered on 57 degrees north latitude, 48 degrees west longitude. An orthographic view is most like the view seen by a distant observer. Image scale is about 2 miles (3 kilometers) per pixel.

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