Thoughts - Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities

Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities

When I first exchanged emails with Frank Jacobs, it was shortly after my "Titan's Unnamed Methane Sea" had hit the internet. The subject of the map hit a hot button that translated into 1,000s of visits to this web site. Frank introduced himself and asked if I had visited his blog, Strange Maps. I had and shared that I thought it was a "kick". He revealed that he, likewise, was a follower of my mapping efforts. He most especially liked my Titan map and wondered if he might use it in a book he was going to have published. He quickly added, that he had no money to pay for the use of the map, but would make sure I got a copy of his completed book. "Of course!" I said, "You are welcome to use my map. Just give me proper credit." Deal done!

Now let me tell you what I really thought. Oh, sure. This guy is going to publish a book about strange maps. I'll probably get a pdf copy or a link to his self-published effort. Unfortunately, I do have a healthy streak of skepticisim. After our exchanges I forgot about Frank and his book.

Silly me! I will never doubt Frank Jacobs again. True to his word, last week Fedex delivered a package from the UK. Inside was a slick copy of Strange Maps, Frank's book. I quickly leafed through it and there was my Titan map on pages 206-207. A nice writeup is included speculating on a name for this methane sea. And, sure enough, a paragraph about the author of the map, me.

Buy the book! Amazon.com lists it at $19.80. Support a fellow map lover!

Titan's Unnamed Methane Sea with Lat-Lon Grid (1-750,000)

And, once again, this is my map of Titan's Unnamed Methane Sea. It is still an interesting effort and now my first published map.

Enjoy!

Thoughts - How and Why I Did What I Did When I Did What I Did

Titan's Methane Seas - Radar Swaths PIA 10008 Modified

Reviewing my RSS science links, I came across an article describing Titan's liquid methane seas that were imaged by the Cassini spacecraft. The article contained a link to the base image of these seas, PIA10008. Studying these seas, I noticed what looked like islands. There they were swimming in a methane sea. Not one or two, but an entire archipelago of islands scatter about the sea. I figured I would construct a map of the islands. To begin my extraterrestrial island mapping project, I downloaded the base image, PIA10008. I was able to determine the appropriate lat/lon grid and this allowed me to georectify the base image. Using Global Mapper v9.01 software, my favorite digitizing software, I created vector shorelines for the islands within the methane sea. A few days later, I went ahead and digitized the entire shoreline of this unnamed methane sea.

Titan's Unnamed Methane Sea

I selected a funky mustard color for the land and pretty blue for the sea and rivers. The resulting map was posted and then the world came to view my creation. I have made so many maps of islands that I failed to appreciate just what I had fashioned - a first map of an extraterrestrial sea and islands. I feel I've made more satisfying maps of islands, but this other worldly depiction is still widely viewed, vigorously discussed and enjoyed by thousands of readers.

Life is swell when you are able to create something appreciated by an audience of first time visitors to your website. I am pleased that my efforts have fired the imagination of island lovers throughout the world.

Enjoy!

Thoughts - Wow! Who Would've Thunk it!

On February 21, 2008, while reading my science RSS feeds, I came across an article about some stunning radar images of methane seas located on Titan. I followed the links and came across the initial image showing strips of the surface of the northern polar region of Titan. And sure enough, there was something that looked like a sea. And best of all, the image of the sea showed what looked to be islands. "Cool, islands!", I said.

Titan Unnamed Methane Sea Base Image PIA10008

Curious mapper that I am, I downloaded the image, georectified it by deciding that 180° would be south and 0° would be north, and digitized a cluster of islands.

Titan Island Group - Cassini Image PIA 100008 (1:1,000,000)

Due to the interest generated by my first map, I digitized the shoreline and islands of the entire unnamed methane sea, made my map and posted it. And then the fun started.

Titan's Unnamed Methane Sea

Over the past month the above map has been viewed on my site alone in excess of 1,500 times. It was picked up and posted to the following sites: Centauri Dreams, Strange Maps, Io9 Unmanned Spaceflight and a few Livejournal posts out of Russia. This map of extraterrestrial islands in a methane sea has generated lots of new traffic to EVS Islands. Hopefully, they will find the world of terrestrial islands of interest.

Enjoy!

Titan's Unnamed Methane Sea - With Fixed Lat / Lon

Titan's Unnamed Methane Sea

Got to go to my grandson's baseball game. Will explain this when I get back. The map's lat/lon is corrected based upon feedback.

Okay, I'm back. The game was fun, I shopped for vinyl records and am ripping a copy of the soundtrack for the movie The Commitments (great soul music). Now I can explain my fixed map. Jason Perry, of the Cassini Imaging Team and a Titan map maker posted the following comment to my original post explaining lat/lon on this extraterrestrial body:

O° West is straight down. For worlds like Titan, longitude is defined as degrees west from the average Sub-Saturn point. In the map you show, 0° West is straight down, and longitude increases to 360 W in the clockwise direction.

Keep in mind that the sea you mapped is the smaller of the two main northern seas. The one to the west, seen in the radar image in two places: the northern part of the sea with the large island in the middle, and part of the middle of the sea to the lower right in PIA10008 as posted here.

As a result, I adjusted the longitudes by adding 180° to each of my original longitudinal lines.

Enjoy!

Titan's Unnamed Methane Sea

Titan's Unnamed Methane Sea with Lat-Lon Grid (1-750,000)

Titan's Unnamed Methane Sea without Lat-Lon Grid (1-750,000)

My Titan Island Post generated lots of interest. To finish it off, I went ahead and digitized the shoreline of the unnamed methane sea my previous post's islands are located in. It is one of the largest bodies of liquid known to exist on this moon of Saturn. This body of liquid methane, ethane and nitrogen is about the size of Lake Superior.

Titan Unnamed Methane Sea Base Image PIA10008

Now for my question - Where is 0° longitude on this base image? Are my coordinates correct? I took the original image and georectified it by designating the longitude at the lower center as 0°. I moved clockwise identifying 90°W, 180°W and 90°E. The first latitude below 90°N, I identified as 80°N. Is this sequence correct? If anyone actually knows the proper orientation of the base image, let me know so I can properly georectify my map? Until I find out differently, the above coordinates associated with my map will have to do.

Enjoy!

P.S. - The following is my Titan's Unnamed Methane Sea map with corrected longitudes, thanks to Jason Perry, a Titan mapper.

Titan's Unnamed Methane Sea With Corrected Longitudes

Titan's Islands - Extraterrestrial Islands in a Methane Sea

Cassini Image PIA10008 of Northern Polar Region of Titan

For the past week, I have been patiently digitized vegetation layers of Rapa Island and I needed a break. So I cruised some of my favorite websites, this being one of them, JPL's Photojournal with loads of interesting imagery. The Cassini images of Titan are always a favorite with me. The latest news article states that Titan has 100 of times more hydrocarbons then all of the known Earth's supply. This moon of Saturn is extremely cold (-279 degrees fahrenheit). It is enshrouded in clouds and these clouds are full of methane that rains down onto the surface creating methane and ethane lakes and rivers. Oh, yes, with islands!

Beginning with the above image which is a north polar region view with strips of imaged surface laid onto a lat/lon grid. I geocoded the image, using Global Mapper. I then zoomed in on an island rich portion of a very large methane lake and began digitizing island shorelines.

Titan Sea Compared to Lake Superior - Cassini Image PIA09184

Titan is the second largest moon in the solar system. It has a thick atmosphere made up of hydrocarbons. It's size relative to earth is less than 1/2 the size (1000-meters on Earth = 404-meters on Titan).

Titan Island Group - Cassini Image PIA 100008 (1:1,000,000)

This is the area I selected. It has a number of islands just off shore. The scale I worked at was 1:250,000. These are relatively large islands, The larger islands are 49 kilometers in length. They are big islands.

Titan Island Group - Global Mapper Map (1:1,000,000)

And this is the finished map. Simple, yet other worldly. And, now, this is me saying goodnight. It is after midnight and I have a full day with many eager and rambunctious middle school students. I hope you enjoy this unique map of extraterrestrial islands floating in a methane sea.

Enjoy!