Scientists, using precise observations from the Cassini spacecraft, have been able to measure the height of some of Titan’s tallest mountains and the news has the researchers amazed at what they have found, according to discovery.com.
The radar from Cassini was able to penetrate the thick atmosphere of the moon and allow the researchers to take measurements of a number of geologic features, including what is likely the highest point on the moon.
The peak measured 10,948 feet high, and is located among three mountain ranges in an area known as Mithrim Montes. All of the highest peaks found so far are centered around the body’s equator and measure around 10,000 feet or higher.
Stephen Wall, deputy lead of the Cassini radar team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said it was not only the highest point found so far, but the team doesn’t expect to find one any higher on Titan.
Even at the recorded height, it is still well short of Earth’s tallest peak, Mount Everest, which tops out at 29,029 feet, so the record for the tallest mountain ever discovered is not in jeopardy. That, so far, belongs to an extinct volcano on Mars, named Olympus, measuring in at an amazing 72,000 feet.
But the peak on Titan, with the size of the moon about two and a half times smaller than the planet Earth, would definitely be an imposing figure on the Titan’s horizon.
The initial intent of the study was to look for active tectonic regions on the moon’s crust, hoping to shed some light on the foundations underneath the moon’s exterior. Scientists say the moon appears to have a sub-surface of liquid water, that behaves similarly to the mantle beneath the Earth’s crust.
“There is lot of value in examining the topography of Titan in a broad, global sense, since it tells us about forces acting on the surface from below as well as above,” said ani Radebaugh, a Cassini radar team associate at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and research leader.
Now that they have found the geologic features, scientists have many more questions that need to be answered, including how they were formed and, how are powerful tides reacting to pressure the interior of the moon. Perhaps an unknown process is at work, causing the shifting plates on the moon.
“As explorers, we’re motivated to find the highest or deepest places, partly because it’s exciting. But Titan’s extremes also tell us important things about forces affecting its evolution,” added Radebaugh.