Dune Fields on Titan and Earth

Two different dune fields on Titan: Belet (top left) and Fensal (bottom left), as imaged by Cassini's radar. The image also shows two similar dune fields on Earth in Rub Al Khali, Saudi Arabia.

Fensal is at higher latitude and elevation than Belet and clearly shows thinner dunes with brighter and wider areas in between, suggesting less abundant dune material in this region.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/ESA and USGS/ESA

Note: For more information, see Cassini's Radar Observes Titan's Tropical Dune Fields; also, PIA15225: Dune Patterns.

Titan's Belet Region

The Cassini spacecraft looks toward Saturn's largest moon and maps the dark Belet region on Titan.

Lit terrain seen here is in the area between the trailing hemisphere and Saturn-facing side of Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across). North on Titan is up.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 24, 2010 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of ultraviolet light centered at 938 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.9 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 82 degrees. Image scale is 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Note: For some other recent photos of the Belet region, see The Belet Region of Titan and Close-up of Titan's Belet Region.