Quivira Is Equatorial Bright Albedo Feature on Titan's Saturn Side

Summary: Quivira is an equatorial bright albedo feature on Titan's Saturn side that lies in the sidewise h formed by dark albedo features Fensal and Aztlan.

Titan VIMS (Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer) image shows trio of dark Fensal, bright Quivira and dark Aztlan (lower right) in equatorial belt of Titan's Saturn-facing side: map credit NASA/JPL/University of Airzona, via IAU/USGS Astrogeology Science Center Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Quivira is an equatorial bright albedo feature on Titan's Saturn side that occurs in the horizontal lowercase letter h formed by parallel dark albedo features Fensal and Aztlan.

Quivira's center latitude is the equator, at 0 degrees. Its center longitude is 15 degrees west, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The Gazetteer gives the optically bright feature's center latitude and longitude as its northernmost and southernmost latitudes and its easternmost and westernmost longitudes, respectively.

Quivira resides in the region of Titan's equatorial belt known as "the H," according to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) Photojournal website's post, "Monitoring 'Fensal-Aztlan,'" published Sep. 13, 2005. Quivira brightens the space between the lower extensions of the sidewise lowercase letter h that is projected by parallel dark albedo features Fensal and Aztlan.

Fensal is centered at 5 degrees north, 30 degrees west longitude. The northern equatorial belt-centered dark albedo feature's northernmost-southernmost latitudes and easternmost-westernmost longitudes repeat its center coordinates.

Aztlan is centered at minus 10 degrees south, 20 degrees west longitude. The southern equatorial belt-centered dark abledo feature's center latitude and longitude are identified as its northernmost-southernmost latitudes and easternmost-westernmost longitudes, respectively.

Their equatorial belt occupancy places dark Aztlan, bright Quivira and dark Fensal in the Titanean latitudes predominated by vast dune fields, also called dune seas, and interdunes. Analysis of the Cassini spacecraft's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) infrared spectra of Titan reveals the presence of acetylene (C2H2) in the equatorial belt's dark dune seas, according to planetary scientist Sandeep Singh and eight co-authors in their study, "Acetylene on Titan's Surface," published in the Sep. 1, 2016, issue of The Astrophysical Journal. Their research targets included equatorial surfaces in the area of dark Aztlan, dark Fensal and their shared, equator-centered, bright neighbor, Quivira. Strong absorption bands of acetylene on Titan's surface at Aztlan and Fensal confirmed the researchers' prediction of acetylene's preferential detection on low albedo surfaces.

Bright and dark areas qualify as the Titanean surface's primary "optical characteristics" (5.6.3 Depositional Features, page 122), according to planetary scientist Ralf Jaumann and 10 co-authors in "Geology and Surface Processes on Titan," chapter five of Titan From Cassini-Huygens, published under the editorship of Robert H. Brown, Jean-Pierre Lebreton and J. Hunter Waite in 2009. A correlation in the low latitudes between albedo and elevation has emerged from RADAR observations and Descent Imager / Spectral Radiometer (DISR) measurements obtained at the Huygens probe's landing site. The Cassini spacecraft's Huygens probe landed Jan. 14, 2005, in northeastern Adiri. Bright Adiri lies to the west, almost opposite, of the Fensal-Quivira-Aztlan complex on Titan's far, anti-Saturn side. The Huygens landing site data associate high topography with the brightness of high albedo surfaces and low-lying plains with the darkness of low albedo materials. Also, low and high spectral units exhibit interfingered borders, in which lateral changes occur, like clasped fingers, as alternating, interpenetrating strips.

VIMS observations of the Quivira-Aztlan region obtained Oct. 25, 2006, during Cassini's 20th flyby of Titan (T20), reveal a bright-dark boundary area, with a prominent, dark, "baylike" indentation, at approximately minus 7 degrees south, 30 degrees west. Transitions from bright to blue to brown indicate units characterized as topographically elevated, dune-free and dunes, respectively. The brightly elevated area lies in Quivira, to the north, west and east of the baylike indentation. The dunes lie to the south, in Aztlan. The bluish accumulation zone's infill originated from Quivira's surrounding bright terrain.

The International Astronomical Union approved Quivira's name in 2006. The bright albedo feature's official name recalls a "Legendary city in the American Southwest; site of a fabulous treasure sought by Coronado and other explorers," according to The Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The selection of Quivira as the equatorial highly reflective feature's name reflects the IAU convention of honoring Titan's albedo features with names in the world's cultures for celestial realms, paradises or enchanting or sacred places.

Processed image, obtained Aug. 22, 2005, with Cassini spacecraft's Wide-Angle Camera (WAC), with 939 nanometer infrared wavelength-centered spectral filter, shows H region's trio of Fensal-Quivira-Aztlan, with Quivira as the bright region between sidewise lowercase letter h formed by parallel dark albedo features Fensal and Aztlan; image obtained at approximate distance of 159,000 kilometers (99,000 miles) from Titan; image addition date 2005-08-25; 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.

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

Titan VIMS (Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer) image shows trio of dark Fensal, bright Quivira and dark Aztlan (lower right) in equatorial belt of Titan's Saturn-facing side: map credit NASA/JPL/University of Airzona, via IAU/USGS Astrogeology Science Center Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/titan_VIMS_comp.pdf

Processed image, obtained Aug. 22, 2005, with Cassini spacecraft's Wide-Angle Camera (WAC), with 939 nanometer infrared wavelength-centered spectral filter, shows H region's trio of Fensal-Quivira-Aztlan, with Quivira as the bright region between sidewise lowercase letter h formed by parallel dark albedo features Fensal and Aztlan; image obtained at approximate distance of 159,000 kilometers (99,000 miles) from Titan; image addition date 2005-08-25; 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/PIA07730

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