Eight Kilometers Above Titan
Explanation:
What are these surface features on Titan?
Scroll right to see the panoramic view captured last week by the
Huygens probe as it descended toward
Saturn's
mysterious moon.
Scientists are not yet sure what the
above image is showing.
On the far left, a boundary seems to exist between some sort of smooth dark terrain
and a type of choppier terrain in the distance.
In
the image center and on the left, white areas
cover the image that might be a type of
ground fog.
The
Huygens probe landed in the dark area of the far right,
finding a portion of
Titan's surface
that had the consistency of wet sand and a surface temperature of -179 degrees
Celsius.
Huygen's battery lasted an unexpectedly long three hours as it beamed back
images
and data to the Saturn-orbiting
Cassini mothership
and an armada of Earth's
most sensitive radio telescopes.
Analysis of the
Huygen's images will likely continue for years in attempts to
better understand this
cloud-engulfed moon.
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.
