Huygen's Entry on Friday!
Mark your calendars! We're sending an away team to an alien planet!
The Huygens probe, part of the Cassini mission to Saturn, was released from its "mother ship" Christmas Eve (Dec. 24th) and will enter the atmosphere of Titan at 4:15am CST on Friday, January 14th.
Titan is the only moon in the solar system to have an atmosphere and is supposed to be similar to a primordial earth. Information from Titan is vital to understanding the formation of life on earth! Scientists are unsure if the Huygens probe will land on a hard surface or on one of its methane lakes. It is better if the probe lands on liquid since it will be more likely to survive a splashdown and be able to return some images.
Splashdown/touchdown is expected on Jan. 14th at 6:30am CST. It will then take about 2 grueling hours for the data to return from Titan given the limited speed of light. Cassini will be acting as a relay station for the probe since Huygens does not have the power to transmit the signal to earth.
Incidentally, the Huygens probe is named for Chistiaan Huygens, a 17th century Dutch physicist and astronomer who first described the nature of Saturn's rings and discovered Titan. He also developed the use of the pendulum in clocks.
To follow all of the latest news from Saturn and Titan, visit: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/. There will likely be a streaming video from JPL and a live broadcast on CNN on Friday morning.
To learn more about the mysterious world of Titan, visit: http://www.nineplanets.org/titan.html
Good Night!
p.s. Don't worry, if you're a member of my email list, you'll receive an email reminder the day before. Not subscribed? Just send an email with any subject and body to: skywonders-subscribe@skywonders.com. In order to filter out SPAM, you'll get an email response confirming your email address before the subscription becomes official. Just follow the instructions.
The Huygens probe, part of the Cassini mission to Saturn, was released from its "mother ship" Christmas Eve (Dec. 24th) and will enter the atmosphere of Titan at 4:15am CST on Friday, January 14th.
Titan is the only moon in the solar system to have an atmosphere and is supposed to be similar to a primordial earth. Information from Titan is vital to understanding the formation of life on earth! Scientists are unsure if the Huygens probe will land on a hard surface or on one of its methane lakes. It is better if the probe lands on liquid since it will be more likely to survive a splashdown and be able to return some images.
Splashdown/touchdown is expected on Jan. 14th at 6:30am CST. It will then take about 2 grueling hours for the data to return from Titan given the limited speed of light. Cassini will be acting as a relay station for the probe since Huygens does not have the power to transmit the signal to earth.
Incidentally, the Huygens probe is named for Chistiaan Huygens, a 17th century Dutch physicist and astronomer who first described the nature of Saturn's rings and discovered Titan. He also developed the use of the pendulum in clocks.
To follow all of the latest news from Saturn and Titan, visit: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/. There will likely be a streaming video from JPL and a live broadcast on CNN on Friday morning.
To learn more about the mysterious world of Titan, visit: http://www.nineplanets.org/titan.html
Good Night!
p.s. Don't worry, if you're a member of my email list, you'll receive an email reminder the day before. Not subscribed? Just send an email with any subject and body to: skywonders-subscribe@skywonders.com. In order to filter out SPAM, you'll get an email response confirming your email address before the subscription becomes official. Just follow the instructions.
posted by Dan at 8:30 AM
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