Cassini Infrared Cameras gave us our best view of Titan

Cassini may have burned in the atmosphere of Saturn almost a year ago, but the probe data sets are transforming our understanding of Saturn and its various moons. In this visible spectrum, Saturn's moon of Titan does not look like much, looking mostly like a shapeless yellow ball, as shown above.

One of the tools aboard Cassini was the Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, or VIMS. It is described on inheritance pages as collecting "both the light that is visible to humans and the infrared light of slightly longer wavelengths." It has separated light in its various lengths. So that scientists can learn the composition of the materials from which the light is reflected or emitted. "In this case, VIMS made composite images of Titan published by NASA in 2005 and 2006. composite shot is shown below:

So, what has changed between now and now, a lot of effort has been made to combine a largest series of composite clichés and improve the composite Because Titan is so difficult to imagine in the visible spectrum, the infrared camera inside the VIMS instrument was, well, instrumental to see the surface of the planet and take those shots in the first place. The result, when you combine 13 years of cumulative data and fill in the gaps and less pictorial areas, is nothing phenomenal:

NASA writes: [19659008] Any color image is composed of three color channels: red, green and blue.Each of the three color channels combined to create these views was produced using a ratio between the luminance of Titan surface at two lengths. different wave (1.59 / 1.27 microns [red] 2.03 / 1.27 microns [green] and 1.27 / 1.08 microns [blue]) This technique (called band-ratio technique) Reduces the prominence of the seams, as well as underlining subtle spectral variations in the materials on the surface of Titan. For example, the equatorial dune fields of the moon appear here in a uniform brown color. There are also bluish and purplish areas that may have different compositions from other light areas, and may be enriched with ice water.

Titan is supposed to look like the Earth in its early days of evolution, although at a considerably cooler temperature. It is the only known body in the solar system in which it is known that liquid precipitation falls, although in the case of Titan, the "rain" is not water – it is hydrocarbons. Life could theoretically exist on the Moon – it has a hydrological cycle and many complex organic compounds in its atmosphere and surface. The temperature on Titan is however much lower than that of the Earth (averaging -90 ° C) and the lack of surface water means that any life that would occur should be based on an underground ocean (theorized to exist) or be based on alternative chemistries. He remains a candidate for life in our solar system, although possibly behind places like Encelade or Europa.