Cassini-Huygens: Descent to Titan

[Cheetah]

Eli: Those seem to be just worse-quality of the two images we have seen so far.

Or did I miss something?

 

[Bozo Erectus]

On second thought, they look like theyve been eroded by liquid. I think wind erosion would make them sharper and more jagged instead of smooth and round.

 

[a space oddity]

Wow, it really does look like ice (esp. some of the raw images).

 

[Cheetah]

About the first picture, the one taken 16 km over the surface, what is the dark area on the right? An ocean of methane?

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Theres obviously been some drainage into the darker area, it probably is liquid methane, or a vast field of frozen methane mud.

 

[AceChilla]

Are we going to see some better quality color pics in the future?

I'm never satisfied am I?

 

[Cheetah]

New picture. This one was taken about 8 km over the surface, with a resolution of 20 meters per pixel. It shows what could be the landing site, with shorelines and boundaries between raised ground and flooded plains:

 

[Pirate]

Are the white areas clouds? Does Titan have clouds?

 

[Cheetah]

Titan has clouds. So it is a possibility.

Here is a little guess by me of how we could combine two of the images. What do you think?

 

[Amenhotep7]

Now, the objective for the next mission: color images!

 

[Cheetah]

Heh. Any image would do for me right now. It been hours, and only three pictures has been released so far.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Plus, there really hasn't been much fanfare, and that ticks me off. It's practically history in the making! I watched NBC Nightly News, and they never even mentioned it!

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Surface pic!

I read on AOL news that the pic was actually taken 10 miles above Titan. They're probably clouds. Or weird looking islands.

EDIT: Or, it probably is a ground pic showing rocks...

 

[Tassadar]

Link:http://www.spaceflightnow.com/cassini/050114science.html


Quote,

Initial pictures of Saturn's moon Titan snapped by Europe's Huygens probe during its historic atmospheric descent and touchdown today show an active world likely carved by the flow of cryogenic liquids that may still pool on its frigid surface, a leading planetary scientist says.

Read the full article.

 

[Leonel]

Well I hope that they brought along some good color cameras or else I'll be pretty disappointed. But if they did, I hope the resulting pictures look amazing!

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Well I hope that they brought along some good color cameras or else I'll be pretty disappointed. But if they did, I hope the resulting pictures look amazing!

They don't use regular cameras. Titan's atmposphere is very thick and only at certain wavelengths is it invisible (something in infrared). The purpose is knowledge about Titan, be that at the expense of pretty pictures.

 

[Winner]

Is that black area ocean or not?

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

When was this taken?

 

[Winner]

When was this taken?

Don't know, by Cassini some month ago, I guess.

 

[shammy]

Panorama view.