[LINK] "Plains of Titan to be Named for "Dune" Novels"

[rfmcdonald]

Thanks to james_nicoll for pointing out this piece of news to me.

Titan's mysterious dark plains will be named after planets in the series of "Dune" science fiction novels by author Frank Herbert. The US Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center announced the first plain or "planitia" given a name will be designated as Chusuk Planitia. Chusuk was a planet from the Dune series, known for its musical instruments. Chusuk Planitia on Titan is located at 5.0S, 23.5W, and in the picture here is the small, dark area next to the "C" of Chusuk.

The Cassini spacecraft has enabled us to finally see these dark plains on Titan. This moon is enveloped by an orange haze of naturally produced photochemical smog that frustratingly obscured its surface prior to Cassini's arrival. Since 2004, the spacecraft's observations have taken the study of this unique world into a whole new dimension.

This link leads to a PDF map of Titan including the named features.

Amusingly, this news appeared that the same time that I saw Lynch's 1984 film Dune and other things. It was cool news to share with friends then.