What do we know? Pre-Cassini

To see to the surface, we simply have to look at a wavelength where the atmosphere does not reflect. Peter Smith and colleagues did so using the Hubble Space Telescope several years ago:

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/

We don't really know much more about the surface of Titan than this: there are some dark patches and some light patches.

Some people have proposed that the dark patches represent high areas (high altitudes) that are covered with methane/ethane snow.

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