# Cassini lands on Titan Friday **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 11, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253 "2005-01-11T19:05:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253/101 "2005-01-16T22:53:34Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > I got a message that I’m not allowed to use that board. I’ll just thank my luck stars. 😃 I’ve done some poking around, and it looks like the entire board has been pulled! That can only mean one thing!\* Someone out there hates the nutcakes as much as we do! ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253/102 "2005-01-16T22:56:59Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Someone out there hates the nutcakes as much as we do! Maybe this qualifies as a bona fide miracle? Proof at last of an all-powerful, and merciful diety! **gobear** don’t hurt me. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253/103 "2005-01-16T23:50:39Z")
Okay, the geeks have been hard at work processing the images they’ve found on the web, and they’ve come up with some spectacular images! I really think that the space agencies could save some bucks by posting all the images on the web and letting the geeks have at them. Take a look: [http://uplink.space.com/attachments//129409-Picture3.5.jpg](http://uplink.space.com/attachments//129409-Picture3.5.jpg) [http://www.lupomesky.cz/Titan\_huygens\_landing\_site\_mosaic\_big.jpg](http://www.lupomesky.cz/Titan_huygens_landing_site_mosaic_big.jpg) [![](http://anthony.liekens.net/titan/titan_rendered2.jpg) ](http://anthony.liekens.net/titan/titan_rendered2.jpg) [![](http://anthony.liekens.net/titan/viewpoint_renderings.jpg) ](http://anthony.liekens.net/titan/viewpoint_renderings.jpg) [http://uplink.space.com/attachments//129164-landing2.jpg](http://uplink.space.com/attachments//129164-landing2.jpg) > **[Panorama de Titan](https://www.futura-sciences.com/sciences/photos/astronomie-mission-cassini-huygens-vers-titan-525/photos-panorama-titan-509/)** > > Panorama créé par Christian Waldvogel à partir des images brutes prises par Huygens. In looking at some of the pics, I can’t help but think, “Welcome to Earth.” ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253/104 "2005-01-17T01:41:53Z")
> [@clayton\_e](#): > > Is it just me or do I recall the duplicate data channels would all be sending back the same information for redundancy? Why would the loss of one change anything with the data from the mission? It’s not just a redundant transmitter. They basically built _two_ probes—two sets of identical instruments, two power supplies, two computers, two transmitters—bundled into one package. The two systems were completely separate, so that a failure in one would have no effect on the other. Looks like it was a good idea, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253/105 "2005-01-17T10:55:35Z")
Here’s a whole load of fairly raw pics: [http://mars.lyle.org/titan/](http://mars.lyle.org/titan/) What’s this: [http://mars.lyle.org/titan/contrast/triplet.202.jpg](http://mars.lyle.org/titan/contrast/triplet.202.jpg) - out-of-focus dust on the lens or what? The round dot in the bottom pic shows up in plenty of others too - see [http://mars.lyle.org/titan/file5.html](http://mars.lyle.org/titan/file5.html) (the left hand three pictures). Any experts know how to interpret these “triplet” images? ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253/106 "2005-01-17T15:17:01Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > BUGGERRIT! MILLENIUM HAND & SHRIMP! I don’t want to hijack, but I simply must know what this is supposed to mean. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253/107 "2005-01-17T15:27:09Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > I don’t want to hijack, but I simply must know what this is supposed to mean. It’s a Pratchett reference, one of the Anhk-Morpork beggars says it. The beggars are not known for their mental coherence. What **Bosda Di’Chi** means by it, I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253/108 "2005-01-17T15:45:50Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > It’s a Pratchett reference, one of the Anhk-Morpork beggars says it. The beggars are not known for their mental coherence. > > What **Bosda Di’Chi** means by it, I dunno. the contents of the link I quoted in my post startled me. I used it as an alternative to an expression of shock. Here’s the link [http://www.fileplace.info/14012005/3697.jpg](http://www.fileplace.info/14012005/3697.jpg) Made me jump… ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253/109 "2005-01-17T22:50:41Z")
So where do we think the probe landed? Did it land on the “highlands” (the lighter colored terrain with the rivers and/or runoff channels) or the “sea” (the darker, flatter parts that is being interpreted as liquid hydrocarbons) or on one of the white whips that some have suggested is low-lying fog over the “sea” but which could be an ice floe? There’s no official word as to where the landing site is (as far as I’ve seen), but the pics seem to indicate that the probe was drifting away from the “highlands” over the “sea”, but it clearly landed on a solid surface, which seems to indicate that it was on an “ice floe” or island. But if it did land in a dark portion, then the “seas” aren’t really seas, but vast dark hydrocarbon ice fields. Anyone have any more concrete information or speculation? ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253/110 "2005-01-17T23:26:17Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Made me jump… That could be pretty awesome with some 3D glasses… ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253/111 "2005-01-18T06:00:44Z")
[More pics have been released.](http://www.planetarysociety.org/news/2005/huygens_update_0116.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253/112 "2005-01-18T13:42:59Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > [More pics have been released.](http://www.planetarysociety.org/news/2005/huygens_update_0116.html) What, no Abbot & Costello? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253/113 "2005-01-18T19:36:30Z")
My earlier question has a preliminary answer. [The probe appears to have landed on a mud flat](http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEM5YW71Y3E_0.html) on the periphery of one of the “islands”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassini-lands-on-titan-friday/284253.md?page=5)