New photos show Titan has orange surface
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-17 10:07

Pictures snapped by the Titan probe and a low, whooshing sound picked up by an on-board microphone drew gasps and applause from scientists Saturday, as the mission to Saturn's moon continued its breathtaking revelations from more than 900 million miles across the solar system.

This image was returned Friday, Jan.14, 2005, by ESA's Huygens probe during its successful descent to land on Titan. This is the coloured view, following processing to add reflection spectra data, gives a better indication of the actual colour of the surface. Initially thought to be rocks or ice blocks, they are more pebble-sized. The two rock-like objects just below the middle of the image are about 15 centimetres (left) and 4 centimetres (centre) across respectively, at a distance of about 85 centimetres from Huygens. The surface is darker than originally expected, consisting of a mixture of water and hydrocarbon ice. There is also evidence of erosion at the base of these objects, indicating possible fluvial activity. [AP]

Data beamed back from Titan, one of Saturn's moons, sketched a picture of a pale orange landscape with a spongy surface topped by a thin crust.

"The closest analogues are wet sand or clay," said John Zarnecki, in charge of instruments analyzing Titan's surface.

Scientists at the European Space Agency were clearly excited about the success of the mission, which had confirmed some long-held theories and produced startling surprises.

"I have to say I was blown away by what I saw," lead scientist David Southwood said at the agency's headquarters in Darmstadt. "It was an extraordinary experience to look at some of the stuff."

Images taken on descent, from about 12 miles right down to the surface, suggest the presence of liquid, possibly flowing through channels or washing over larger areas, said Marty Tomasko of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

"It is almost impossible to resist speculating that the flat, dark material is some kind of drainage channel, that we are seeing some kind of a shoreline. We don't know if it still has liquid in it."

A thick layer of cloud or fog that obscures the planet was found to be hanging at about 12 miles from the surface, but absent closer to the ground.

The clouds are most likely methane and dark areas on the surface are "a reservoir" of liquid methane, said project scientist Shushiel Atreya.

A boom mike extended from the 705-pound Huygens probe has captured a loud, rushing sound. Mission scientists did not immediately say what it might mean, but instruments on the probe have detected winds of about 15 mph.

Titan is the first moon other than the Earth's to be explored. Scientists believe its atmosphere may be similar to that of the primordial Earth and studying it could provide clues to how life began on our planet.

Huygens was spun off from the Cassini mother ship on Dec. 24 before it began its 2 1/2-hour parachute descent on Friday, taking pictures and sampling the atmosphere before landing on Titan, where temperatures are estimated at 292 degrees below zero.

Scientists want to know whether Titan has lightning and if it has the seas of liquid methane and ethane that have been theorized. Both ethane and methane are gases on Earth, but are believed to exist in liquid form on Titan.

Mission officials had tears in their eyes as the first signal was picked up, indicating the probe was transmitting to the Cassini mother ship.

Despite exultation, scientists were disappointed after one of Huygens' two data channels failed, robbing scientists of nearly half the hoped-for 700 images.

Except for the transmission glitch, all instruments on the $3.3 billion Cassini-Huygens mission to explore Saturn and its moons have worked as designed.

"The instruments performed brilliantly," Zarnecki said. "We can't find a single missing data frame. The link and the quality of the data was absolutely superb."

The probe is sending data to NASA's Cassini mother ship above Saturn, which relays them to the ESA by way of NASA. The mission was launched in 1997 from Cape Canaveral, Fla. — a joint effort by NASA, ESA and the Italian space agency. It is named for 17th-century Saturn observers Jean Dominique Cassini and Christiaan Huygens.

Close

Today's Top News     Top World News
Cross-Straits jets ready for take-off         Zhao Ziyang, 85, passes away in Beijing         'Go-west' speeds up in next five years         80 officials entangled in bank loan swindle         Japan maps plan to defend southern islands         Party issues outline to fight corruption	Sharon orders army crackdown on militants       Tsunami death toll rises past 162,000       U.S. arrests dozens ahead of Iraq vote       Experts warn of huge tremor in Nepal       Japan maps plan to defend southern islands       Indonesia ups tsunami death toll by 5,000