Tag: Titan

  • ESA’s Huygens probe landed on Saturn’s moon Titan 15 years ago

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    This mosaic of three frames taken by Huygens during its descent to Titan provides unprecedented detail of a ridge area, including a network of river channels. Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona Fifteen years after accomplishing the first-ever landing on Saturn’s moon Titan, lessons learned from the European Space Agency’s Huygens spacecraft continue aiding designers of future…

  • NASA counts down final month of Cassini’s tour of Saturn

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    Artist’s concept of the Cassini spacecraft during one the mission’s five dives into the uppermost layers of Saturn’s atmosphere before the mission ends Sept. 15. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s Cassini orbiter sailed through the tenuous outermost reaches of Saturn’s atmosphere without trouble Monday, performing the first of five close swings nearer to the planet than any…

  • Cassini downlinks view of Titan’s methane clouds on third loop inside rings

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    Cassini took this picture of Titan’s northern cloud bands Sunday from a distance of more than 300,000 miles (500,000 kilometers). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute The Cassini spacecraft captured captivating images of wispy methane clouds suspended above Titan’s hydrocarbon lakes as the probe headed for its third shot through Saturn’s ring gap Tuesday. The distant pictures,…

  • Cassini downlinks view of Titan’s methane clouds on third loop inside rings

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    Cassini took this picture of Titan’s northern cloud bands Sunday from a distance of more than 300,000 miles (500,000 kilometers). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute The Cassini spacecraft captured captivating images of wispy methane clouds suspended above Titan’s hydrocarbon lakes as the probe headed for its third shot through Saturn’s ring gap Tuesday. The distant pictures,…

  • Cassini sails by Saturn’s moon Titan for last time

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    Cassini flew by Saturn’s moon Titan on Saturday for the mission’s final close encounter with the Earth-like moon. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft sped by the moon Titan on Saturday, using the hazy world’s gravity to slingshot the probe on a trailblazing trajectory to explore the region between Saturn’s hydrogen-helium atmosphere and the planet’s famous rings for…

  • Looking for ET in the waters of Mars and Europa

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    STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION India’s Mars Orbiter Mission captured this view of the red planet shortly after it arrived in 2014. Credit: ISRO The discovery of intermittent flows of liquid water on Mars, announced with great fanfare Monday, makes the red planet the leading candidate for the near-term discovery of extraterrestrial life…

  • 10 years since we landed on Titan

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    Ten years ago today, on 14 January 2005, a compact, flattened cylinder called Huygens, chock-full of sensors, cameras and scientific experiments, went hurtling through the orange skies of the mysterious moon Titan. An artist’s impression of Huygens on the surface of Titan. Image: ESA/C Carreau. The surface of Titan was still largely unknown at the…

  • Crescent Saturn and Titan seen by Cassini

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    Saturn and Titan appear as crescents in this image from Cassini. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute NASA’s Cassini spacecraft — in its 11th year orbiting Saturn — has spotted the gas giant and its haze-covered moon Titan suspended in the blackness of space as brilliant crescents. Encircled by its famous rings faintly visible in this image,…