Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Tune in to Titan

Posted by michael on from the channel-143656335 dept.

Scarblac writes "In a little over four days, the Cassini spacecraft will finally do its first flyby of Titan, the first of 46 such flybys planned for the coming years. There will be a broadcast on NASA TV. Titan is one of the most interesting objects in the solar system, the only moon with a substantial atmosphere. A few months ago, Cassini was able to spot details of Titan's surface from far away. It should be able to improve on this dramatically - what will be discovered this time?"

5 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. The link is wrong by Philom · · Score: 5, Informative

    You mean http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm.

  2. beer? by thhamm · · Score: 4, Informative

    nice. some info about Titan, and Saturn itself at Solarviews.

    might be interesting. maybe i can finally do my extraterrestrial beerbrewing there. :P

  3. huygens by thhamm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    now correct me if im wrong (too lazy to google):

    taking the moon, venus and mars, this would be (only) the 4th extraterrestrial body we land a probe on. if huygens succeeds.

    aah. now get me as stunning results as the mars rovers did. and launch the JIMO.

    maybe were really "sending probes out here since the 70s and then suddenly everything goes whacko" . well. except the monolith. .)

  4. What will be discovered? by leonbrooks · · Score: 3, Funny
    what will be discovered this time?
    A big black monolith. It will turn out to be the external component of the aliens' split-system air conditioner.
    --
    Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
  5. Re:Wow @ that image of details... by CheshireCatCO · · Score: 3, Informative

    You weren't. We can't see the surface, not in the visible. The pictures were taken in the infrared. (Earth-based radar has also been used.)

    Venus's surface has also been mapped from orbit (by Magellen) using radar. And, of course, the Venera landers got some pictures very small bits of the surface.

    So all in all, they're pretty equivelent.