1. Maps of Titan's surface from 1 to 2.5 μm
- Author
-
M. Hirtzig, Athena Coustenis, Eric Gendron, Olivier Lai, Pierre Drossart, M. Combes, A. Negrao, Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique (LESIA), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Pôle Astronomie du LESIA, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Pôle Planétologie du LESIA, Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique = Laboratory of Space Studies and Instrumentation in Astrophysics (LESIA), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité), Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation (CFHT), and National Research Council of Canada (NRC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-University of Hawai'i [Honolulu] (UH)
- Subjects
Solar System ,biology ,Spectral window ,Astronomy ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,biology.organism_classification ,Wavelength ,Titan (supercomputer) ,Space and Planetary Science ,Conica ,Pueo ,[PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] ,Adaptive optics ,Spectroscopy ,Geology ,Remote sensing - Abstract
International audience; We have acquired resolved images of Titan with the adaptive optics systems PUEO/KIR at the CFHT (Hawaii) and NAOS/CONICA at the VLT (Chile). We report here on images and maps (when data at several orbital phases are available) of Titan's surface from observations taken during the last 4 years (2001-2004) in all the methane windows between 1 and 2.5 mum (namely, at 1.08, 1.28, 1.6, and 2 mum). We present the only complete maps of Titan currently available at 1.3 mum, a spectral window where Titan appears particularly bright in spectroscopy, with a resolution of about 200 km at best on the ground. Our surface maps show the bright and dark regions sharing Titan's landscape with as much detail as possible from the ground and with high contrast in most cases. From the information gathered by comparing the maps at different wavelengths we derive constraints on the ground's composition. Our results could complete/optimize the return of the Cassini-Huygens mission.
- Published
- 2005
- Full Text
- View/download PDF