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What it is : Saturn ’s largest Sun Myung Moon , Titan
Where it is : Approximately 750 million nautical mile ( 1.2 billion kilometers ) from Earth
When it was share : May 4 , 2006
Why it ’s so special : Thispicturewas contract by theEuropean Space Agency ’s Huygens investigation during its historic parachute descent onto Titan ’s surface on Jan. 14 , 2005 . At the minute this image was capture , the probe was some 3 nautical mile ( 5 km ) above Saturn ’s largest moon . The probe ’s blood from its parent ballistic capsule , NASA ’s Cassini , postulate more or less 2.5 hours . When Huygens shore with a thud near the bright equatorial area of Adiri , it made history as the first and only dig into to acres in the outersolar system . The probe carry legal instrument to study Titan ’s smog - like atmosphere , chemical substance place , wind , temperature and pressure . It was also equipped with camera to capture Titan ’s surface .
Although the probe itself was not designed to stand firm the landing place , it not only outlive but also returned images of frigid Titan ’s surface for another hour and 10 second after touchdown , until its batteries expire .
— Space photo of the calendar week : The angle spiral galaxy that took Hubble 23 years to capture
— Saturn ’s moon Titan may have a 6 - nautical mile - duncish gall of methane ice — could life be under there ?
— quad photo of the workweek : The 1st image of an alien major planet
Over the years , range collected by Huygens ' Descent Imager / Spectral Radiometer instrument discover that Titan ’s surface hasEarth - similar featuresincluding narrow-minded drainage canals , dry lake beds , island and shoal . Two more instrument — the Gas Chromatograph and Mass Spectrometer and the Surface Science Package — bring home the bacon compelling evidence for the comportment ofmethane rainfall and liquid feed on Titan . Although the river and lakes appeared teetotal when Huygens touched down , evidence suggest that liquid methane may have flow across the moon ’s open not long ago .
The Huygens landing was part of the Cassini mission , which set up on Oct. 15 , 1997 . In 2017 , after 20 year of thrilling exploration , the spacecraft made its final approach to Saturn , dip into its atmosphere , and burned up , dramatically stop its remarkable journey .
