This near-infrared, color view from Cassini shows the sun glinting off of Titan's north polar seas. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. Arizona/Univ. Idaho


As it soared past Saturn's large moon Titan recently, NASA's Cassini spacecraft caught a glimpse of bright sunlight reflecting off hydrocarbon seas.

In the past, Cassini had captured, separately, views of the polar seas and the sun glinting off them, but this is the first time both have been seen together in the same view.

The image is available at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/...hp?id=PIA18432

Also in the image:

-- An arrow-shaped complex of bright methane clouds hovers near Titan's north pole. The clouds could be actively refilling the lakes with rainfall.

-- A "bathtub ring," or bright margin, around Kraken Mare -- the sea containing the reflected sunglint -- indicates that the sea was larger at some point, but evaporation has decreased its size.

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