Lakes in Titan's southern hemisphere

Cassini's radar (RADAR) has found lakes in Titan’s southern hemisphere during the most recent Titan fly-by. This is the first confirmation of lakes in the southern hemisphere with the radar instrument. Hundreds of lakes have already been discovered and imaged by radar at Titan's north pole. This finding is important to scientists who are trying to understand how Titan's environment works.

Cassini completed its 37th fly-by of Saturn's moon Titan on 2 October 2007, allowing the Cassini Radar to obtain this southernmost image to date.

Shown here is a portion of the image swath and an inset with details of a small portion in false colour. Titan’s south pole is at bottom centre. The nature and similarities between the northern and southern near-polar regions supports the idea that much of Titan’s poles are climate-driven.

A few small dark patches - liquid-hydrocarbon-filled lakes - stand out, at about 70 degrees south, and are highlighted in the insert (the lakes are coloured blue). Other features in the scene include broad, steep-sided depressions adjoined to sinuous depressions, interpreted to be empty topographic basins or drained lakes fed by channels, and complex mottled terrain, akin to those at similar northern latitudes. Similarities in features between northern and southern hemispheres imply that the climatic conditions are also similar.

The image shown here is a 1.4-km resolution, 2250-km subsection of a 4,500-km long swath, which is 150 km wide at the narrowest point. The insert is 90 by 90 km, centered at 70.5° south and 113.9° west. Future southern fly-bys will image closer to the pole and are expected to show more lakes.