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Huygens lands in Titanian mud

18 January 2005

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A view of Huygens probable landing site based on initial, best-guess estimates. Scientists on the Huygens Descent Imager/ Spectral Radiometer (DISR) science team are still working to refine the exact location of the probe's landing site, but they estimate that it lies within the white circle shown in this image.

Credits: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Recreating Huygens' descent profile

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This short animation is made up from a sequence of images taken by the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer (DISR) instrument on board ESA's Huygens probe, during its successful descent to Titan on 14 January 2005.

It shows what a passenger riding on Huygens would have seen. The sequence starts from an altitude of 152 kilometres and initially only shows a hazy view looking into thick cloud. As the probe descends, ground features can be discerned and Huygens emerges from the clouds at around 30 kilometres altitude. The ground features seem to rotate as Huygens spins slowly under its parachute.

The DISR consists of a downward-looking High Resolution Imager (HRI), a Medium Resolution Imager (MRI) which looks out at an angle, and a Side Looking Imager (SLI). For this animation, most images used were captured by the HRI and MRI. Once on the ground, the final landing scene was captured by the SLI.

Credits: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Landing with a splat

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Scientists from the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer (DISR) team analysing initial data sent back by Huygens in the Principle Investigator Support Area (PISA), at ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany.

From left, Jonathan Lunine, interdisciplinary scientist (University of Arizona), Larry Soderblom, DISR team member (USGS), Laura Ellen Dafoe, DISR team scientist (University of Arizona). Standing, Marty Tomasko, DISR Principal Investigator, Slyvain Doute, team scientist (Observatoire de Paris).

Credits: ESA/ESOC/University of Arizona

At Saturn and Titan

Huygens raw images

Sounds of Titan

View from ten kilometres high New images from Titan First images from Titan Europe reaches new frontier – Huygens lands on Titan Radio astronomers confirm Huygens entry in the atmosphere of Titan