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Science 25 April 2003:
Vol. 300. no. 5619, pp. 628 - 630
DOI: 10.1126/science.1081897
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Reports

Evidence for the Exposure of Water Ice on Titan's Surface

Caitlin A. Griffith,1* Tobias Owen,2 Thomas R. Geballe,3 John Rayner,2 Pascal Rannou4

The smoggy stratosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, veils its surface from view, except at narrow wavelengths centered at 0.83, 0.94, 1.07, 1.28, 1.58, 2.0, 2.9, and 5.0 micrometers. We derived a spectrum of Titan's surface within these "windows" and detected features characteristic of water ice. Therefore, despite the hundreds of meters of organic liquids and solids hypothesized to exist on Titan's surface, its icy bedrock lies extensively exposed.

1 Department of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona, 1629 East University Boulevard, Tucson, AZ 85721–0092, USA.
2 Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
3 Gemini Observatory, 670 North A'ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, USA.
4 Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, Paris, France.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: griffith{at}lpl.arizona.edu

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