Touchdown Titan

January 14, 2005
Saturn's moon Titan has been socked in by sog for eons. The Huygens space probe Friday pierced the veil. Titan's orange, rubbly terrain calls to mind Mars, though the -298 F temperatures mean the rocks are probably made of ice. Other images revealed what could be rivers and lakes filled with liquid ethane and methane, a chemistry that calls to mind a flash-frozen Earth. This composite shows a full 360-degree view, taken from about five miles above Titan's surface. As the probe descended, it drifted over a plateau, center, and on its way to the landing site in the dark area to the right

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