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n2doc

(47,953 posts)
Fri Mar 25, 2016, 12:32 PM Mar 2016

Spacecraft spots the tallest mountain seen on Saturn's moon Titan



Anyone up for a low-gravity hike on an icy moon?

The Cassini spacecraft, which has explored Saturn and its moons from close range for about 12 years, spotted a relatively high mountain peak on Titan, the ringed planet's largest moon.

The mountain is about 10,948 feet tall — slightly shorter than Oregon's Mount Hood — and was found in mountainous ridges called the Mithrim Montes, according to NASA

"It's not only the highest point we've found so far on Titan, but we think it's the highest point we're likely to find," Stephen Wall, deputy lead of the Cassini radar team, said in a statement.

Titan is an incredibly hazy planet, with a thick atmosphere rich in nitrogen, so Cassini scientists used the spacecraft's radar instrument to peer through the haze and check out the surface of the world beneath.



more
http://mashable.com/2016/03/24/saturn-titan-tallest-mountain/#rbd9UCFfZZq3
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