 Jingpo Lacus in a false-colorsynthetic aperture radar image of Titan's north polar region. An extension ofKraken Mare enters the view at upper left. | |
| Feature type | Lacus |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 73°N336°W / 73°N 336°W /73; -336 |
| Diameter | 240 km[note 1] |
| Eponym | Jingpo Lake |
Jingpo Lacus is alake in the north polar region ofTitan,[1] the planetSaturn's largest moon. It and similarly sizedOntario Lacus[2] are the largest known bodies of liquid on Titan after the three maria (Kraken Mare,Ligeia Mare, andPunga Mare).[3] It is composed of liquidhydrocarbons (mainlymethane andethane). It is west of Kraken Mare at 73° N, 336° W, roughly 240 km (150 mi) long,[1][note 1] similar to the length ofLake Onega onEarth. Its namesake isJingpo Lake,[1] a lake in China.
On 8 July 2009,Cassini'sVisual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) observed aspecular reflection in 5 μminfrared light off Jingpo Lacus at 71° N, 337° W. (This has sometimes been described less accurately as at the southern shoreline of Kraken Mare.[4]) 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.[5]
