Feature type | Lacus |
---|---|
Coordinates | 73°N 336°W / 73°N 336°W |
Diameter | 240 km [note 1] |
Eponym | Jingpo Lake |
Jingpo Lacus is a lake in the north polar region of Titan, [1] the planet Saturn's largest moon. It and similarly sized Ontario Lacus [2] are the largest known bodies of liquid on Titan after the three maria ( Kraken Mare, Ligeia Mare, and Punga Mare). [3] It is composed of liquid hydrocarbons (mainly methane and ethane). It is west of Kraken Mare at 73° N, 336° W, roughly 240 km (150 mi) long, [1] [note 1] similar to the length of Lake Onega on Earth. Its namesake is Jingpo Lake, [1] a lake in China.
On 8 July 2009, Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) observed a specular reflection in 5 µm infrared 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]