ESA - Cassini-Huygens - Huygens’ path to Titan

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Huygens’ path to Titan

1 June 2007

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This image is an artist's impression of the descent and landing sequence followed by ESA's Huygens probe that landed on Titan. The event was the culmination of a 22-year process of planning, organising and cooperation between ESA and NASA.

Credits: ESA - D. Ducros

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Huygens atmospheric entry point and landing spot on Titan

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The entry point of the Huygens probe in Titan’s atmosphere, and its landing spot on Titan, are respectively indicated by a triangle and a cross on this surface map of Titan. This was assembled from images taken by the Imaging Science Susbsystem (ISS) instrument on board Cassini using a near-infrared filter.

The map reveals complex patterns of bright and dark material on the surface.

Credits: NASA/JPL

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Mercator projection of the DISR surface mosaic

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This image is a Mercator projection of the surface mosaic composed by the images that Huygens’s Descent Imager and Spectral Radiometer (DISR) took during the descent onto Titan.

The colour coding is such that the left and the right sides of the colour bar correspond to bright and dark areas of the surface, respectively.

Credits: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

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Trajectory of Huygens starting at 40 kilometres altitude

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This sketch shows the trajectory that Huygens followed during its descent onto Titan, starting from 40 kilometres altitude. The numbers on the trajectory line indicate the altitude expressed in kilometres, while the dots indicate the position of Huygens every full kilometre of altitude.

Credits: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

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Trajectory of Huygens starting at 2 kilometres altitude

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This sketch shows the trajectory that Huygens followed during its descent onto Titan, starting from 2 kilometres altitude. The dots indicate the position of Huygens every 100 metres of altitude.

Credits: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

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Sounds of Titan

Huygens raw images

Titan first images

Where is Cassini now?

Current positions