Albedo feature

In planetary geology, an albedo feature is a large area on the surface of a planet (or other Solar System body) which shows a contrast in brightness or darkness (albedo) with adjacent areas.

The Cassini–Huygens probe observed multiple albedo features on Titan after its arrival in Saturn's orbit in 2004.

The first albedo feature ever seen on another planet was Syrtis Major Planum on Mars in the 17th century.

[3][4] Today, thanks to space probes, very high-resolution images of surface features on Mars and Mercury are available, and the classical nomenclature based on albedo features has fallen somewhat into disuse, although it is still used for Earth-based observing of Mars by amateur astronomers.

However, for some Solar System bodies (such as Pluto prior to the New Horizons mission), the best available images show only albedo features.