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First Huygens Image of Titan Released
2005.01.14 (Fri) 15:38
The first picture from the Huygens probe to Titan was released a few minutes ago. We managed to track down a grainy copy on the CNN web site. In case you are also getting shut out of the ESA web site (which appears to be the only place these pictures will be housed), here you go.
From CNN:
Credit NASA/ESA
From Spaceflight Now:
Credit NASA/ESA
These images represent the first ever view from under the clouds of this totally alien world. It is simply amazing. We can't wait for more images to be released, not to mention videos, sounds, and anything else they can put together over at the ESA.
From early indications, it seems that this might be a shoreline of sorts, with a body of liquid off to the right, and a land mass with drainage channels on the left. This would be consistent with the earlier report on Unscrewing the Inscrutable which had reported that the probe may have landed on a liquid surface.
If we had to guess, we'd say that Unscrewing the Inscrutable will have more and better pictures in the near future, and probably without all those messy "time out" errors...
Again, more to come!
[Update: We were right, Unscrewing the Inscrutable has a new picture up of the surface of Titan taken from the side. Go check it out immediately! For us, it's hard to tell if the vertical differentiation a little more than halfway up the side view image represents a shoreline, or a rocky plain...]
[Update: The ESA Huygens image archive has a total of three pictures up now. For the side view picture, the ESA is referring to what we thought were rocks as "ice blocks". Curiouser and curiouser... The images are shown below in the order in which they were taken (16KM up, 8KM up, apparently at the surface).]
Credit NASA/ESA
Credit NASA/ESA
Credit NASA/ESA
[Update: We stumbled across an image archive at the University of Arizona with a bunch of raw images (copyright NASA, ESA, UofA). They contain lots of vague details, but some seem to show what look to be shorelines, and possibly mountains and rivers. We have included two partial images below — one that seems to show the Huygens spotlight shining on the surface, and another showing a view across the landscape during descent. Go check out the rest! Unscrewing the Inscrutable has many of the better images from UofA online, which is good since the UofA site seems to have removed the images...]
Credit NASA/ESA/University of Arizona
[Update: Since the University of Arizona site seems to have removed the images, we thought we'd provide a link that contains about 370 raw images. Thanks to The Panda's Thumb where we were tipped off to this site, in the comments of their Huygens post. Most of these aren't very clear, and many look damn near the same to us, but far be it from us to hold back information on raw images! Enjoy!]
[Update 1-15: We have more pictures in our next Rant.]
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