Titan Has a Fancy Collar

As high summer slowly but steadily approaches on Saturn, Cassini is opening a window to the seasonal changes that occur not only on the ringed planet but also its moons. Here we can see a dark band developing around Titan's north polar latitudes, a "fancy collar" made visible in ultraviolet wavelengths.

Polar collars have previously been seen by both Hubble and Voyager 2, and in fact a southern version

was observed by HST

5 years after the planet's 1995 equinox.

This summer collar is thought to be part of a seasonal process, related to the migration of upper-level

haze material

within Titan's atmosphere.

Source: CICLOPS (Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for OPerationS)