Voyager Views Titan s Haze
Explanation:
Launched in 1977,
25 years ago today, the
Voyager 1 spacecraft's historic tour
of the outer Solar System took it past Saturn
in late 1980.
On November 12, 1980, Voyager 1
recorded this view
looking across the edge
of Titan,
Saturn's largest moon, from a distance of
about 22,000 kilometers.
Seen in false color,
the moon's
hazy atmosphere
appears orange with further layers of blue haze
suspended above.
Titan's mostly nitrogen atmosphere,
denser than planet Earth's,
also contains
methane and
is thought to be laced with
more complex hydrogen and carbon compounds.
The composition
is likened
to Earth's atmosphere before life began.
Spotted by Voyager, the detached layers of haze
hundreds of kilometers above the surface, along with details of
Titan's atmospheric chemistry,
have intrigued
earth-bound researchers
who have recently proposed
a model that links seasonal variations
in the haze, winds, and sunlight,
accounting for
the early Voyager observations as well as subsequent
studies.
Further tests of the model are anticipated when the
Huygens probe,
carried by the
saturn-bound
Cassini spacecraft, enters Titan's atmosphere in 2005.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
