Mayda Insula is an island in the

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 ...

, a body of liquid composed primarily of methane, on Saturn's largest moon Titan. Mayda Insula is the first island (insula) to be named on a planet or moon other than Earth.

Discovery and naming

Mayda Insula was discovered by the ''

Cassini–Huygens ''Cassini–Huygens'' ( ), commonly called ''Cassini'', was a space research, space-research mission by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to send a space probe to study the planet Saturn and its system, i ...

'' mission to Saturn. Its name was approved by the International Astronomical Union Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature on April 11, 2008, becoming the first named island on a planetary body other than earth, and the largest. NASA notes, however, that the possibility Mayda Insula is actually

peninsular A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

(i.e., connected to the mainland by a strip of land) cannot be conclusively ruled out. All of the insulae on Titan have been named for legendary islands and "Mayda Insula" was derived from the legendary island

Mayda Mayda (variously known as Maida, Mayd, Mayde, Brazir, Mam, Asmaida, Asmayda, Bentusle, Las Maidas Bolunda and Vlaanderen) is a non-existent island in the North Atlantic that has been shown on several published maps at various points in history. ...

which was thought to exist in the northeastern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. Its name was approved the same day as the names of Kraken Mare and

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 liquid ...

Characteristics

Mayda Insula lies in the northern end of the Kraken Mare near Titan's north pole. The island has a northernmost latitude of 80.3 degrees north and a southernmost latitude of 77.4 degrees north; it has a westernmost longitude of approximately 321.2 degrees west and an easternmost longitude of 302.7 degrees west. The island is wide at its widest point. Its dimensions are approximately , about the same size as the Big Island of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. The highest point of the interior of Mayda Insula is approximately above its shoreline. Slopes are relatively mild at approximately 1.5 degrees on average, though they can approach 5 degrees in some locations. Radar images of Titan's surface show that Mayda Insula's coasts display evidence of being changed by

fluvial In geography and geology, fluvial processes are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them. When the stream or rivers are associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps, the term glaciofluvial or fluviog ...

and

lacustrine 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 larger ...

processes. Analyses of these fluvial features suggested that approximately 2 km³ of material has been eroded from Mayda Insula and deposited elsewhere in the Kraken Mare basin.

In popular culture

Mayda Insula features in Michael Carroll's novel ''On the Shores of Titan's Farthest Sea: A Scientific Novel''. The 39th chapter of the book is titled "The Hunchback of Mayda Insula".

References

{{Titan Surface features of Titan (moon)

Discovery and naming

Characteristics

In popular culture

See also

References