Summary: Mezzoramia is a South Polar dark albedo feature on Titan's Saturn side that occurs as one of Titan's two non-equatorial belt-centered albedo features.
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| Polar stereographic map, assembled in 2015 from images acquired by Cassini spacecraft's imaging cameras with 938 nanometer wavelength-centered spectral filter, shows Titan's south polar latitudes, with Mezzoramias as dark patch at 0 longitudinal degrees and with two of the south polar region's five lakes, footprint-shaped Ontario Lacus (minus 70 degrees south, 180 degrees west) and dark dot-shaped Crveno Lacus (minus 80 degrees south, 180 degrees west); image addition date 2015-10-09; image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute: May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal |
Mezzoramia is a South Polar dark albedo feature on Titan's Saturn side that numbers as one of two albedo features that are not centered on Titan's equatorial belt.
Mezzoramia is centered at minus 70 degrees south latitude, 0 degrees longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The Gazetteer gives the optically dark feature's center latitude and longitude as its northernmost and southernmost latitudes and its easternmost and westernmost longitudes, respectively.
Mezzoramia's center longitude of 0 degrees places it on Titan's Saturn-facing side. As with Earth's moon, Titan presents the same side to its parent planet. Titan's orbital period of 15 days 22 hours equals its rotational period, so that the completion of one full revolution around its ringed partner coincides with the natural satellite's full, west-to-east rotation around its axis. Titan's synchronous rotation always favors the same side, the near side, as Saturn-facing and always disfavors the other side, the far side, as anti-Saturn. Synchronous rotation is also known as tidal locking. Captured rotation, gravitational locking and spin–orbit locking are other synonyms for the phenomenon.
Mezzoramia's center latitude of minus 70 degrees south places the optically dark albedo feature in the Titanean southern hemisphere's polar latitudes. Although Titan's lakes almost exclusively favor the polar regions, the South Pole's "less common" occurrence of lakes contrasts with the North Pole's abundance of lakes, according to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) Photojournal post, "Titan Polar Maps -- 2015," posted Oct. 9, 2015. Of the 82 named Titanean lakes (Latin: lacus, lacūs) listed in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, only three are non-polar; Hammar, Sionascaig and Urmia are mid-latitude lakes. Crveno, Kayangan, Ontario, Shoji and Tsomgo number as the only five of Titan's 79 named polar lakes that are located in south polar latitudes. All five south polar lakes distance themselves from Mezzoramia with their antipodal residence of Titan's far, anti-Saturn side.
Two of the south polar region's six low plains (Latin: planitia, planitiae) reside as Mezzoramia's close neighbors. Hagal Planitia and Rossak Planitia are centered as Mezzoramia's northern and southern neighborly low plains, respectively.
Hagal Planitia is centered at minus 60.59 degrees south latitude, 344.95 degrees west longitude. The south polar low plain records northernmost and southernmost latitudes of minus 56.07 degrees south and minus 65.43 degrees south, respectively. It registers easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 336.96 degrees west and 354.67 degrees west, respectively. Hagal Planitia's diameter measures 435 kilometers.
Rossak Planitia's center coordinates are minus 71.04 degrees south latitude, 355 degrees west longitude. The south polar low plain's northernmost and southernmost latitudes reach minus 66.4 degrees south and minus 75.89 degrees south, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes extend to 341.37 degrees west and 8.67 degrees west, respectively. Rossak Planitia's diameter spans 512 kilometers.
Mezzoramia's south polar region location qualifies it as one of only two albedo features that are not centered on Titan's equatorial belt. Tsegihi, a bright albedo feature, joins dark Mezzoramia as Titan's other non-equatorial belt-centered albedo feature.
Bright Tsegihi resides to the north of Mezzoramia as the Titanean albedo feature in closest proximity to Titan's only south polar region albedo feature. High albedo Tsegihi is centered at minus 40 degrees south latitude, 10 degrees west longitude. The brightly reflective southern mid-latitude feature's center coordinates are repeated as its northernmost-southernmost latitudes and as its easternmost-westernmost longitudes.
Titan's nine other albedo features post center latitudes in the equatorial belt. Quivira's center latitude of 0 degrees places the bright albedo feature exactly on the equator. Dark Aaru (10 degrees north, 340 degrees west), bright Dilmun (15 degrees north, 175 degrees west) and dark Fensal (5 degrees north, 30 degrees west) are centered in the northern equatorial belt. Bright Adiri (minus 10 degrees south, 210 degrees west), dark Aztlan (minus 10 degrees south, 20 degrees west), dark Belet (minus 5 degrees south, 255 degrees west), dark Ching-Tu (minus 30 degrees south, 205 degrees west), dark Senkyo (minus 5 degrees south, 320 degrees west) and bright Xanadu (minus 15, 100 degrees west) are centered in the southern equatorial belt.
The International Astronomical Union approved Mezzoramia's name in 2006. The dark albedo feature's official name designates an "Oasis of happiness in the African desert, from an Italian legend," according to The Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The IAU convention for Titan's albedo features draws upon names in the world's cultures for celestial realms, paradises or enchanting or sacred places.
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| Image, obtained Jan. 29, 2007, by Cassini spacecraft's Wide-Angle Camera (WAC) with 939 nanometer infrared light wavelength-centered spectral filter, shows south polar region-centered dark albedo feature Mezzoramia (lower center), southern mid-latitude-centered bright albedo feature Tsegihi (above Mezzoramia) and southern equatorial belt-centered dark albedo feature Senkyo (top); image acquired at appoximate distance of 79,000 kilometers (49,000 miles) from Titan; image addition date 2007-03-09; image credit NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute: May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal |
Acknowledgment
My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.
Image credits:
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Polar stereographic map, assembled in 2015 from images acquired by Cassini spacecraft's imaging cameras with 938 nanometer wavelength-centered spectral filter, shows Titan's south polar latitudes, with Mezzoramias as dark patch at 0 longitudinal degrees and with two of the south polar region's five lakes, footprint-shaped Ontario Lacus (minus 70 degrees south, 180 degrees west) and dark dot-shaped Crveno Lacus (minus 80 degrees south, 180 degrees west); image addition date 2015-10-09; image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute: May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal @ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19657
Image, obtained Jan. 29, 2007, by Cassini spacecraft's Wide-Angle Camera (WAC) with 939 nanometer infrared light wavelength-centered spectral filter, shows south polar region-centered dark albedo feature Mezzoramia (lower center), southern mid-latitude-centered bright albedo feature Tsegihi (above Mezzoramia) and southern equatorial belt-centered dark albedo feature Senkyo (top); image acquired at appoximate distance of 79,000 kilometers (49,000 miles) from Titan; image addition date 2007-03-09; image credit NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute: May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal @ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08893
For further information:
For further information:
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