MSGID: 1:153/757.0 957d2fcc
TZUTC: -0800
CHRS: LATIN-1 2
                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2025 January 19

                   Titan Touchdown: Huygens Descent Movie
           Video Credit: ESA, NASA, JPL, U. Arizona, E. Karkoschka

   Explanation: What would it look like to land on Saturn's moon Titan?
   The European Space Agency's Huygens probe set down on the Solar
   System's cloudiest moon in 2005, and a time-lapse video of its descent
   images was created. Huygens separated from the robotic Cassini
   spacecraft soon after it achieved orbit around Saturn in late 2004 and
   began approaching Titan. For two hours after arriving, Huygens
   plummeted toward Titan's surface, recording at first only the shrouded
   moon's opaque atmosphere. The computerized truck-tire sized probe soon
   deployed a parachute to slow its descent, pierced the thick clouds, and
   began transmitting images of a strange surface far below never before
   seen in visible light. Landing in a dried sea and surviving for 90
   minutes, Huygen's returned unique images of a strange plain of dark
   sandy soil strewn with smooth, bright, fist-sized rocks of ice.

                       Tomorrow's picture: high north
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
 * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)
SEEN-BY: 19/10 105/81 106/201 128/187 129/305 134/100 153/135 143
SEEN-BY: 153/148 151 757 6809 7083 7715 154/110 218/700 840 221/1
SEEN-BY: 221/6 360 226/30 227/114 229/110 114 206 307 317 400 426
SEEN-BY: 229/428 470 664 700 705 240/1120 266/512 291/111 301/1 113
SEEN-BY: 301/812 320/219 322/757 335/364 341/66 342/200 396/45 460/58
SEEN-BY: 460/256 1124 633/280 712/848 902/26 5020/400 1042 8912 5054/30
SEEN-BY: 5075/35
PATH: 153/757 221/6 301/1 460/58 229/426