Getting Closer to Saturn
Written by Fraser Cain
Image credit: ESA
NASA's Cassini spacecraft is on track to reach Saturn in summer 2004. Before it reaches Saturn, however, the spacecraft will release a tiny probe called Huygens that will parachute into Titan, Saturn's largest moon, to give scientists an idea of what's underneath those thick clouds. Astronomers think that the environment on Titan is very similar to primordial conditions here on planet Earth billions of years ago. Huygens will take more than a thousand pictures and countless samples as it travels down to the surface in January 2005.
This time next year, ESA?s Huygens spaceprobe will be descending through the atmosphere of Saturn?s largest moon, becoming the first spacecraft to land on a body in the outer Solar System.
Earlier this month, the giant ringed planet Saturn was closer to Earth than it will be for the next thirty years. All the planets orbit the Sun as if on a giant racetrack, travelling in the same direction but in different lanes.
Those in the outer lanes have further to travel than those on the inside lanes. So, Earth regularly ?laps? the further planets. On New Year?s Eve 2003, Earth overtook Saturn, drawing closer than at any time in the next three decades.
Through a small telescope, Saturn is normally visible as a creamy yellow ?star?. You may be able to see the ring system that the planet is famous for, and its largest moon Titan will show up as a tiny dot of light.
That tiny dot is the destination for ESA?s Huygens probe and may hold vital clues about how life began on Earth. Titan is the only moon with a thick atmosphere in the Solar System.
Astronomers think this atmosphere might closely match the one Earth possessed millions of years ago, before life began. Certainly Titan?s atmosphere is rich in carbon, the chemical necessary for life on Earth. What is more, this is all stored in ?deep freeze?, ten times further from the Sun than the Earth.
The big mystery is Titan?s surface, which is hidden by a cloud layer. This is why ESA built Huygens, to probe through this layer which is impenetrable by Earth-based observations.
In January 2005, Huygens will parachute below the clouds to see what is really going on. Its battery of instruments will return over 1000 images as it floats down and samples the chemistry of this exotic place.
The Titan probe was named Huygens in honour of the Dutch astronomer who discovered Titan in 1655. Launched in October 1997, Huygens is currently in space, hitching a ride on NASA?s Cassini spacecraft.
So look forward to seeing more of Saturn and a tiny European spacecraft called Huygens, that in one year?s time will make an historic landing in the quest to uncover the origins of life.
Original Source: ESA News Release
Filed under: Saturn
Leave a Reply