Approaching Xanadu: Cassini-Huygens Examines Titan

Abstract

Huygens' January 14 landing on the surface of Titan was a great accomplishment, showing us never-before-seen views of the mysterious moon. But the in-depth examination of the intriguing moon has only just begun. Scientists are still studying Huygens' data, and the Cassini orbiter is completing the first year of its 4-year tour of the Saturnian system. As it dances through a complex series of orbits, Cassini repeatedly turns a close eye to Saturn's haze-shrouded moon Titan. Here, longtime Society friend Toby Owen -- a planetary scientist and one of the architects of the Cassini-Huygens mission -- explains what Cassini-Huygens has taught us so far about Titan and its tantalizing atmosphere, which resembles that of early Earth.