Jingpo Lacus is a
lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
in the north polar region of
Titan,
the planet
Saturn's largest moon. It and similarly sized
Ontario Lacus
Ontario Lacus is a lake composed of methane, ethane and propane near the south pole of Saturn's moon Titan. Its character as a hydrocarbon lake was confirmed by observations from the '' Cassini'' spacecraft, published in the 31 July 2008 edition ...
are the largest known bodies of liquid on Titan after the three maria (
Kraken Mare
Kraken Mare is the largest known body of liquid on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. It was discovered by the space probe '' Cassini'' in 2006, and was named in 2008 after the Kraken, a legendary sea monster. It covers an area slightly bigger ...
,
Ligeia Mare
Ligeia Mare is a lake in the north polar region of Titan, the planet Saturn's largest moon. It is the second largest body of liquid on the surface of Titan, after Kraken Mare. Larger than Lake Superior on Earth, it is mostly composed of liqui ...
, and
Punga Mare).
It is composed of liquid
hydrocarbon
In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ...
s (mainly
methane
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Ea ...
and
ethane
Ethane ( , ) is an organic chemical compound with chemical formula . At standard temperature and pressure, ethane is a colorless, odorless gas. Like many hydrocarbons, ethane is isolated on an industrial scale from natural gas and as a petroc ...
). It is west of Kraken Mare at 73° N, 336° W, roughly 240 km (150 mi) long,
similar to the length of
Lake Onega
Lake Onega (; also known as Onego, rus, Оне́жское о́зеро, r=Onezhskoe ozero, p=ɐˈnʲɛʂskəɪ ˈozʲɪrə; fi, Ääninen, Äänisjärvi; vep, Änine, Änižjärv) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Repu ...
on
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
. Its namesake is
Jingpo Lake
Jingpo Lake or Lake Jingpo (; ''Pinyin'': Jìng Pō Hú) is a lake located in the upper reaches of the Mudan River among the Wanda Mountains in Ningan County, Heilongjiang Province, in the People's Republic of China. Earlier names for the lake ...
,
a lake in China.
Specular reflection
On 8 July 2009, ''Cassinis
Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) observed a
specular reflection
Specular reflection, or regular reflection, is the mirror-like reflection of waves, such as light, from a surface.
The law of reflection states that a reflected ray of light emerges from the reflecting surface at the same angle to the surf ...
in 5
µm infrared
Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...
light off Jingpo Lacus at 71° N, 337° W. (This has sometimes been described less accurately as at the southern shoreline of Kraken Mare.
) 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.
Gallery
File:Jingpo Lacus in radar & visible light.jpg, Synthetic aperture radar image (top) overlaid onto a visible light
Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 te ...
/infrared
Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...
image of Titan's north polar region, showing Jingpo Lacus (at center) and other liquid bodies (Kraken Mare at bottom, Ligeia Mare at right, and Punga Mare) outlined in blue.
File:PIA12481 Titan specular reflection.jpg, Specular reflection
Specular reflection, or regular reflection, is the mirror-like reflection of waves, such as light, from a surface.
The law of reflection states that a reflected ray of light emerges from the reflecting surface at the same angle to the surf ...
off Jingpo Lacus, observed by the '' Cassini'' probe on July 8, 2009
See also
*
Lakes of Titan
Lakes of ethane and methane on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, have been detected by the ''Cassini–Huygens'' space probe, and had been suspected long before. The large ones are known as maria (seas) and the small ones as lacūs (lakes).
History
...
Notes
References
External links
Map of the liquid bodies in the north polar region of Titan
Lakes of Titan (moon)
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