Huygens landed on Titan today!

Its totally unbelievable/shocking what i saw today on CNN. Pictures from Titan (the 2nd largest known moon of our universe). The river channels (filled with some kinda fluid, probably methane) and the dark area which they are saying may be some kinda sea (see the first images). It took Huygens 7 years to reach Titan.


These are one of the first raw, or unprocessed, images from the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Huygens probe as it descended to Saturn's moon Titan. It was taken with the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer, one of two NASA instruments on the probe.



The Cassini-Huygens mission offers rare views of the gassy planet Saturn and its rings and moons. Launched in 1997, the Cassini orbiter started its four-year mission on June 30, 2004. The Huygens probe, launched from Cassini on Christmas Eve, is scheduled to reach Saturn's largest moon, Titan, on January 14, 2005. This view, taken May 21, 2004, shows Saturn's atmospheric multicolored bands. Cassini is a $3 billion joint project between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.



These four dark spots, captured in a May 5, 2004, image, are storms in Saturn's atmosphere. The Cassini spacecraft is expected to send back to Earth more than 300,000 images.



Cassini captured this close-up of Saturn's rings on November 9, 2004. The bands are density waves caused by Janus and Pandora, two of Saturn's moons. The bright areas are the denser "peaks" of the waves.



Scientists are interested in Titan, Saturn's largest moon (seen here May 23, 2004) because it is the only moon in the solar system with its own atmosphere. On January 15, 2005, the Huygens probe is expected to penetrate Titan’s murky atmosphere and land on its surface.




This image of Titan was taken on October 24, 2004, and has been processed to sharpen the features of the moon's surface. The bright spots near the bottom are clouds above Titan's south pole.



A methane cloud is visible above Titan's south pole in this composite image. The inset area is a close-up of the Huygens probe's projected landing site.




The haze of Titan's upper atmosphere extends several hundred kilometers above the moon's surface. This ultraviolet image was taken on December 16, 2004.




Phoebe, another of Saturn's moons, is shown in a composite image taken June 11, 2004, during the Cassini orbiter's flyby. Phoebe's pockmarked surface is full of large and small craters.




Slopes on Phoebe's surface are seen during the Cassini orbiter's flyby. Images such as this one from June 11, 2004, indicate the Saturn moon may be an ice-rich body.




A close-up of Phoebe's surface shows an eight-mile (13-kilometer) diameter crater.



One hemisphere of Saturn's moon Iapetus is seen in this color image. The color and detail of the image help differentiate the shadows, which appear black, from the moon's naturally dark surface.



Source: NASA Web Site