Slipping into shadow, the south polar vortex at Saturn's moon Titan still stands out against the orange and blue haze layers that are characteristic of Titan's atmosphere. Images like this, from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, lead scientists to conclude that the polar vortex clouds form at a much higher altitude -- where sunlight can still reach -- than the lower-altitude surrounding haze.
For another color image of the south polar vortex on Titan, see PIA14919. For a movie of the vortex, see PIA14920.
This view looks towards the trailing hemisphere of Titan (3,200 miles or 5,150 kilometers across). North on Titan is up and rotated 17 degrees to the left. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural-color view. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 30, 2013.
The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 895,000 miles (1.441 million kilometers) from Titan. Image scale is 5 miles (9 kilometers) per pixel.
Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Note: For more information, see Cassini Sees Saturn and Moons in Holiday Dress.
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