Astronomy Picture of the Day 9-05-02

NASA ^ | 9-05-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 September 5

Voyager Views Titan's Haze
Credit: Voyager Project, JPL, NASA

Explanation: Launched in 1977, 25 years ago today, the Voyager 1 spacecraft's historic tour of the outer Solar System took it past Saturn in late 1980. On November 12, 1980, Voyager 1 recorded this view looking across the edge of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, from a distance of about 22,000 kilometers. Seen in false color, the moon's hazy atmosphere appears orange with further layers of blue haze suspended above. Titan's mostly nitrogen atmosphere, denser than planet Earth's, also contains methane and is thought to be laced with more complex hydrogen and carbon compounds. The composition is likened to Earth's atmosphere before life began. Spotted by Voyager, the detached layers of haze hundreds of kilometers above the surface, along with details of Titan's atmospheric chemistry, have intrigued earth-bound researchers who have recently proposed a model that links seasonal variations in the haze, winds, and sunlight, accounting for the early Voyager observations as well as subsequent studies. Further tests of the model are anticipated when the Huygens probe, carried by the saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft, enters Titan's atmosphere in 2005.

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Fun Fact:

Titan is the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere surrounding it. The atmospheric pressure near Titan's surface is 60% greater than Earth at sea level. The atmospheric temperature near Titan's surface is 95K (-178 C or -288 F). As on Earth, the most abundant gas in Titan's atmosphere is nitrogen.

Remember the Voyager missions? What a thrill it was!

Be sure to click on the "Huygens probe" link to read about the mission to Titan's surface!

Get on the list!

[petuniasevan]

[BossyRoofer]

The Huygens probe article is great, will be waiting for nov.6 2004 and keeping our fingers crossed that everything proceeds without any problem. Good job APOD!

[sleavelessinseattle]

Lets all pray for peace after Saddam meets his ersatz deity, so The '04 APOD's are the highlight of our day NOT Americans dying for no discernable sane reason...

[MeekOneGOP]

[sistergoldenhair]

Voyager.... Doesn't seem it should be so long ago.
Thanks for the ping.