Maps of Titanʹs surface from 1 to 2.5 μm

We have acquired resolved images of Titan with the adaptive optics systems PUEO/KIR at the CFHT (Hawaii) and NAOS/CONICA at the VLT (Chile). We report here on images and maps (when data at several orbital phases are available) of Titanʹs surface from observations taken during the last 4 years (2001–2004) in all the methane windows between 1 and 2.5 μm (namely, at 1.08, 1.28, 1.6, and 2 μm). We present the only complete maps of Titan currently available at 1.3 μm, a spectral window where Titan appears particularly bright in spectroscopy, with a resolution of about 200 km at best on the ground. Our surface maps show the bright and dark regions sharing Titanʹs landscape with as much detail as possible from the ground and with high contrast in most cases. From the information gathered by comparing the maps at different wavelengths we derive constraints on the groundʹs composition. Our results could complete/optimize the return of the Cassini–Huygens mission.