Huygens on Titan Illustrated
圖片提供: ESA
Explanation:
If you could stand on Titan, what might you see? About one year ago the robotic Huygens probe landed on the enigmatic moon of Saturn and sent back the first ever images from beneath Titan's thick cloud layers. From the images sent back, an artist's impression of Huygens on Titan's surface has been reconstructed. In the foreground of the above image sits the car-sized lander that sent back images for more than 90 minutes before running out of battery power. The parachute that slowed Huygen's re-entry is seen in the background, attached to the lander by strong cords. Strange light smooth stones possibly containing water-ice are visible surrounding the landing craft. Analyses of Huygen's images and data shows that Titan's surface today has intriguing similarities to the surface of the early Earth.
說明:
如你站在泰坦衛星上，你可能會看見何種景觀？大約在一年前，惠更斯號探測器降落在土星這顆謎樣的衛星上，回傳了第一批泰坦厚重雲層下的影像。根據回 傳的影像，畫家建構了這幅惠更斯號在泰坦衛星的示意圖。在這幅影像的前景裡，小汽車大小的探測器傳送了超過九十分鐘的影像，才用盡了蓄電池的電量。惠更斯號進入泰坦大氣時用來減速的降落傘出現在上面影像背景中，它以強壯的傘絲和探測器連結。在降落艙周圍的環境裡，奇異淡色的平滑石塊可能含有水冰。惠更斯號的影像和數據顯示，泰坦衛星現在的表面和早期的地球有很有趣的相似性。
資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU
