Summary: Shangri-La is an equatorial dark albedo feature on Titan's far side that lies to the east of the Huygens probe's January 2005 landing site.
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| Image, obtained July 25, 2016, during flyby T122, with Cassini spacecraft's Synthetic Aperture radar (SAR) shows Shangri-La Sand Sea as landforms patterned by wind and topography; illumination of scene by radar from upper right at a 27-degree incidence angle; image addition date 2016-09-07; image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI: May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal |
Shangri-La is an equatorial dark albedo feature on Titan's far side that lies in eastern proximity to the Huygens probe's Jan. 14, 2005, landing site in the northeastern edge of Adiri, Shangri-La's western neighbor.
Shangri-La is centered at minus 10 degrees south latitude, 165 degrees west longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The Gazetteer identifies the dark albedo feature's center latitude and longitude as its northernmost and southernmost latitudes and its easternmost and westernmost longitudes, respectively.
Bright albedo feature Adiri neighbors to the west of Shangri-La. Adiri is centered at minus 10 degrees south latitude, 210 degrees west longitude. The southern equatorial belt-centered bright feature's center coordinates are repeated as its northernmost-southernmost latitudes and easternmost-westernmost longitudes.
Western Shangri-La borders the landing site of the Cassini-Huygens Mission's Huygens probe. The European Space Agency's Huygens probe separated from the Cassini spacecraft on Christmas, Dec. 25, 2004, and touched down Jan. 14, 2005, on Adiri's northeastern edge.
Shangri-La's northern neighbor is Dilmun. The bright albedo feature is centered at 15 degrees north, 175 degrees west longitude. Dilmun's center latitude and longitude are given as its northernmost-southernmost latitudes and easternmost-westernmost longitudes, respectively.
Shangri-La's eastern neighbor is Xanadu. The bright albedo feature is centered at minus 15 degrees south latitude, 100 degrees west longitude. Xanadu's northernmost and southernmost latitudes extend to 10 degrees north and minus 40 degrees south, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes stretch to 65 and 150 degrees west, respectively. Xanadu's diameter spans 3,400 kilometers.
Dunes, comprised of dunes and interdunes, dominate Titan's equatorial belt. The southern and northern low latitude landform is described as dune fields and as dune, or sand, seas.
Shangri-La's abundant dunes appear to evince their thickest sand deposits in the dark albedo feature's south-southeast regions, along Shangri-La's boundary with northwestern Xanadu, according to planetary geologist B.D. Lake and five co-authors in their report, "Sand Distribution and Possible Surface Albedo Influences in the Shangri-La Sand Sea of Titan," presented Wednesday, May 13, 2020, at the Sixth International Planetary Dunes Workshop. Shangri-La's relative sand abundances are interpreted as 17 percent high thickness, 70 percent moderate thickness and 13 percent thin deposits.
Highland topography occurs in both northern and southern Shangri-La. Shangri-La's southeastern margins, however, abruptly encounter Xanadu's lowlands. Apart from a northern east-west aligning ridge, Xanadu favors low elevations. Lake and the presentation's five co-authors consider colliding air currents of Xanadu's katabatic, or cold density-driven, winds with Shangri-La's sand-bearing westerlies, as a possible explanation for the unusual geomorphology of thick highland deposits along a lowland interface.
Another phenomenon of thickness appears as a narrow strip of thick sand cutting through the primarily moderate sand coverage of eastern Shangri-La's southwestern region. The thickly deposited corridor could represent accumulations shaped by prevailing wind direction in a low-elevated area.
Shangri-La numbered as one of three areas examined for the presence of acetylene by 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. No acetylene was detected at Tui Regio, an equatorial basin located to the east of Shangri-La. The parallel dark albedo duo of Fensal and Aztlan, sited to the east of Shangri-La and Tui Regio on Titan's Saturn-facing side, exhibited strong absorption bands of acetylene. The study's targeted area of eastern Shangri-La revealed the strongest detection and the general presence of acetylene on Shangri-La's terrain of dark dune seas. The successful detection of acetylene on Titan's surface in the dune seas of dark Fensal-Aztlan and dark Shangri-La confirmed the study's predicted association of acetylene with low albedo features.
Northwestern Shangri-La has been selected as the landing site for NASA's planned astrobiology mission's rotorcraft, Dragonfly. Launch date has been scheduled for June 2027, according to editor Tricia Talbert's Titan feature, "Dragonfly Launch Moved to 2027," published Sep. 25, 2020, and updated Aug. 4, 2021. Dragonfly is expected to reach Titan by 2034.
The International Astronomical Union approved Shangri-La's name in 2006. The Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature originates the name in the "Tibetan mythical land of eternal youth." The spelling of the dark albedo feature's name was changed from the approved Shangri-la to Shangri-La in April 20, 2009, to conform with the idyllic land's spelling in Lost Horizon, published in 1933 by English novelist James Hilton (Sep. 9, 1900-Dec. 20, 1954).
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| Titan VIMS (Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer) image shows equatorial dark albedo feature Shangri-La (upper left) with northern neighbor, bright Dilmun, and eastern neighbor, bright Xanadu, on Titan's anti-Saturn, far side: map credit NASA/JPL/University of Airzona, via IAU/USGS Astrogeology Science Center Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature |
Acknowledgment
My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.
Dedication
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:
Image credits:
Image, obtained July 25, 2016, during flyby T122, with Cassini spacecraft's Synthetic Aperture radar (SAR) shows Shangri-La Sand Sea as landforms patterned by wind and topography; illumination of scene by radar from upper right at a 27-degree incidence angle; image addition date 2016-09-07; image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI: May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal @ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20710
Titan VIMS (Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer) image shows equatorial dark albedo feature Shangri-La (upper left) with northern neighbor, bright Dilmun, and eastern neighbor, bright Xanadu, on Titan's anti-Saturn, far 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
For further information:
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