Titan (moon)

:This page is about the moon of Saturn. For other meanings, see Titan (disambiguation).

Exploration of Titan

Titan was examined by both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, with Voyager 1's course being diverted specifically to make a closer pass of Titan. Unfortunately Voyager 1 did not possess any instruments that could penetrate Titan's haze, which had not been known about until then. Many years later, heavy digital processing of images taken through Voyager 1s orange filter did reveal hints of the light and dark features known as Xanadu and the Sickle {{an|Richardson}}, but by then they had already been observed in the infrared by the Hubble Space Telescope. Voyager 2 took only a cursory look at Titan. The Voyager 2 team had the option of steering the spacecraft to take a detailed look at Titan or to use another trajectory which would allow it to visit Uranus and Neptune. Given the lack of surface features seen by Voyager 1, the latter plan was implemented.

Related Topics:
Voyager 1 - Voyager 2 - Xanadu - The Sickle

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The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft reached Saturn on July 1 2004 and has begun the process of mapping Titan's surface by radar;

Related Topics:
Cassini-Huygens - July 1 - 2004 - Radar

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The Cassini probe flew by Titan on October 26 2004{{an|Huygens_picture_saturn}} and took the highest-resolution images ever of the moon's surface, at only 1,200 kilometers away from the planet{{an|Huygens_picture_saturn}}, discerning patches of light and dark that would be invisible to the human eye. Huygens landed on Titan on January 14 2005{{an|huygens_landing_titan}}, discovering that much of the moon's surface features seem to have been formed by flowing fluids at some point in the past; however, the presence of actual open fluids on Titan today has not been confirmed at present.

Related Topics:
October 26 - 2004 - Kilometer - Huygens - January 14 - 2005

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