First picture from Titan

[BlueEyedSon]

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEMCXM71Y3E_0.html

[redqueen]

1. Wow!

Not too smoggy ... thanks!

[On the Road]

2. Hey -- It Looks Like Mars!

Boring. (No, seriously I'm very excited.)

[indigobusiness]

12. Yeah, but where's the lumber?

Got wood?

[Don Claybrook]

3. Cool...but

I really hope they sent better imaging equipment than what is shown here.

Good job, EU!!!!

[punpirate]

10. Well, after all...

... it's a looooooooooooonnnnnng way away--not much light. Let's hope they can be computer-enhanced.

Cheers.

[Liberal Veteran]

4. My God....It's full of rocks!

Tee-hee!

[BlueEyedSon]

5. DOH! (smacks head)

I was hoping it was full of hot chicks:

[Liberal Veteran]

8. Hot chicks in togas!

Yay!

[ixion]

17. lol

that's what came to my mind, too. :-)

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Titan may be terraformable

this will determine that....

[BlueEyedSon]

7. Isn't it too far from the sun? nt

[Goldmund]

9. With a lil greenhouse effect...

Maybe if we send Halliburton there?

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Theoretically greening a planet, whether Mars

the other candidate or Titan, will involve creating an atmosphere that will be conducive to life... and it will not be instantaneous hence not a line of work that Halliburton will get involved in.

You need CO2 and other green house gases generators and people williing to live in an extremely hostile place to run it.

Why would you want to develop Titan? Think of all the hydrocarbons in the area... and other potencial energy sources... but still this will not be for Exxon or Halliburton to do it.

[Jeebo]

13. One of the best science-fiction novels I've ever read...

...is "Titan" by Stephen Baxter. It's about a manned (and womanned) mission to Saturn's largest moon using souped-up space shuttles. And then right after the mission is launched, things politically start to go all to hell on Earth, sort of like what is happening now with the Bushies. And so the follow-up mission, the one that is supposed to follow them to the Saturn system and bring them back, never launches, and they're on their own.

I've probably read about a thousand science-fiction novels in my life. An average of one every two weeks, that's about 25 per year, in 40 years, that's about a thousand. So I feel that my opinion is worth something when I say that's one of the best ones I've ever read.

Ron

P.S. -- Thanks for posting the picture. And yes, it does look like Mars.

[murray hill farm]

14. Very cool!

Does water or liquid cause the spread of rocks in that way? Are there other ways for that pattern to evolve? Anyone know!!

[BlueEyedSon]

15. Another, from the descent....

This is one of the first raw images returned by the ESA Huygens probe during its successful descent. It was taken from an altitude of 16.2 kilometres with a resolution of approximately 40 metres per pixel. It apparently shows short, stubby drainage channels leading to a shoreline.



http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEMCXM71Y3E_1.html

[ixion]

16. I heard there were Sirens on Titan

I wonder where they are. :+

[struggle4progress]

18. More pictures available from ESA

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html

[Dookus]

19. This one's interesting, too

[BlueEyedSon]

20. LMFAO

You're fast...!

[janx]

21. I have been riveted to this news all day!

Am watching the Science Channel now. Mars was impressive, but this is the most important development in space exploration I can remember since the moon landing in the sixties!

So incredible!

[theHandpuppet]

22. Here's a link to some interesting coverage of the event

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4175099.stm