Jingpo Lacus Explained

Jingpo Lacus
Type:Lacus
Coordinates:73°N -336°W
Diameter:240 km[1]
Eponym:Jingpo Lake

Jingpo Lacus is a lake in the north polar region of Titan,[2] the planet Saturn's largest moon. It and similarly sized Ontario Lacus[3] are the largest known bodies of liquid on Titan after the three maria (Kraken Mare, Ligeia Mare, and Punga Mare).[4] It is composed of liquid hydrocarbons (mainly methane and ethane). It is west of Kraken Mare at 73° N, 336° W, roughly 240 km (150 mi) long,[2] [1] similar to the length of Lake Onega on Earth. Its namesake is Jingpo Lake,[2] a lake in China.

Specular reflection

On 8 July 2009, Cassinis Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) observed a specular reflection in 5 μm infrared light off Jingpo Lacus at 71° N, 337° W. (This has sometimes been described less accurately as at the southern shoreline of Kraken Mare.[5]) Specular reflections indicate a smooth, mirror-like surface, so the observation corroborated the inference of the presence of a large liquid body drawn from radar imaging. The observation was made soon after the north polar region emerged from 15 years of winter darkness.[6]

See also

Notes

  1. The USGS web site gives the size as a "diameter", but it is actually the length in the longest dimension.
  2. Web site: Jingpo Lacus . Feature ID 14655 . 2010-03-29 . Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180903215218/https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/14655 . 2018-09-03 . 2012-03-17.
  3. Web site: Titan lacūs . Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature . . 2012-03-17.
  4. Web site: Titan maria . Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20190621100551/https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/SearchResults?target=TITAN&featureType=Mare%2C%20maria . 2019-06-21 . 2012-03-16.
  5. Web site: Glint of Sunlight Confirms Liquid in Northern Lake District of Titan . Cook . Jia-Rui C. . 2009-12-17 . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180604065928/https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/whycassini/cassini20091217.html . 2018-06-04 . 2009-12-18.
  6. Web site: Cassini VIMS sees the long-awaited glint off a Titan lake . Lakdawalla . Emily . Emily Lakdawalla . 2009-12-17 . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20190821224858/https://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2009/2267.html . 2019-08-21 . 2009-12-17.

External links

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Jingpo Lacus".

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