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Huygens (/ ˈ h ɔɪ ɡ ən z / HOY-gənz) was an atmospheric entry robotic space probe that landed successfully on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005. Built and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), launched by NASA, it was part of the Cassini–Huygens mission and became the first spacecraft to land on Titan and the farthest landing from Earth a spacecraft has ever made. [3]
The SOHO (ESA & NASA) joint project implies that all materials created by its probe are copyrighted and require permission for commercial non-educational use. Images featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) web site may be copyrighted. The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) site has been known to host copyrighted content.
Voyager 1 view of haze on Titan's limb (1980) The first probe to visit the Saturnian system was Pioneer 11 in 1979, which revealed that Titan was probably too cold to support life. [104] It took images of Titan, including Titan and Saturn together in mid to late 1979. [105] The quality was soon surpassed by the two Voyagers. [106]
On November 29, 2016, the spacecraft performed a Titan flyby that took it to the gateway of F-ring orbits: This was the start of the Grand Finale phase culminating in its impact with the planet. [125] [126] A final Titan flyby on April 22, 2017, changed the orbit again to fly through the gap between Saturn and its inner ring days later on April 26.
The size of solid bodies does not include an object's atmosphere. For example, Titan looks bigger than Ganymede, but its solid body is smaller. For the giant planets, the "radius" is defined as the distance from the center at which the atmosphere reaches 1 bar of atmospheric pressure. [11]
The skies of Venus, Mars and Titan have been observed by space probes designed to land on the surface and transmit images back to Earth. Characteristics of extraterrestrial sky appear to vary substantially due to a number of factors. An extraterrestrial atmosphere, if present, has a large bearing on visible characteristics.
Titan is the only object in the outer Solar System where a spacecraft has landed and conducted surface operations. The geology of Titan encompasses the geological characteristics of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. Titan's density of 1.881 g/cm 3 indicates that it is roughly 40–60% rock by mass, with the rest being water ice and other ...
Artist's rendition of Mars Express as seen by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor Image of Mars Express in orbit at Mars. 2001 Mars Odyssey was launched April 7, 2001 on a Delta II rocket and currently holds the record for the longest-surviving continually active spacecraft in orbit around a planet other than Earth at 23 years, 2 months and 26 days.