A bright Red Spot on Titan (1)

The recently discovered infrared-bright spot on Titan is the type of enigmatic feature that is best investigated by putting together as many different types of complementary information as possible. This montage shows the spot in infrared wavelengths from the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer on the left, from the imaging science subsystem in the center and a combination of both data sets on the right. When put together, the 2 different views show more than either does separately. The visual and infrared spectrometer team noted the bright region in the image on the left after March 31, 2004, Cassini's-Titan encounter. The strange, bright feature to the southeast of Xanadu was flagged as unusual and informally dubbed "The Smile" by imaging team members in December 2004. It seems clear that both instruments are detecting the same basic feature on Titan's surface. This bright patch may be due to an impact event, landslide, cryovolcanism, or atmospheric processes. Its distinct color and brightness suggest that it may have formed relatively recently".