NASA: Saturn's largest moon Titan's tallest peak is 10,948 feet high

NASA's Cassini mission scientists have identified the highest peak on Titan, largest moon of planet Saturn. The tallest peak on Titan is 10,948 feet high, the research team said.

They have also discovered that all of the highest peaks on Titan are roughly 10,000 feet in elevation. The study has revealed surfaces in-depth using pictures and other data from Cassini's radar instrument.

Stephen Wall, deputy lead of the Cassini radar team at NASA, said that the point discovered by them isn’t just the highest point they have found on Titan so far, but they also think that it’s the highest point they would ever find there. Most of the tallest mountains on Titan are apparently near to the equator.

Other peaks of similar height have been spotted by researchers in the Mithrim Montes, and in the rugged area called Xanadu.

Jani Radebaugh, Cassini radar team associate at Brigham Young University in Utah, said, “As explorers, we're motivated to find the highest or deepest places partly because it's exciting. But Titan's extremes also tell us important things about forces affecting its evolution”.

On our planet, cliffs and mountains are generally discovered in areas where the surface has been pushed by forces, upwards from down underneath. Himalayas and the Andes are among examples of such phenomenon.

Besides, Cassini has found that there is rain and rivers on Titan that erode its landscape. Titan has significant mountains. It indicates that some active tectonic forces might have been affecting the surface. Now, researchers will attempt to determine what can possibly be the reason behind such tall peaks on Titan.

Radebaugh added that it would be quite beneficial if they will be able to examine the topography of Titan in a wide, global sense, as then they will get to know about forces acting on the surface from underneath and also from above.