# Closing in on the Planet Saturn. I can hardly wait! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2004, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152 "2004-05-08T06:43:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Starguard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Starguard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starguard)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/1 "2004-05-08T06:43:44Z")
When it comes to the Heavens, I’ve always had a passionate curiosity of the unknown. NASA’s Space probe Cassini has been en route toward the Planet Saturn now for quite some time. For those that are familiar with this project, there is a Mercury Sized moon orbiting Saturn named Titan that so far is one on the only known moons in our Solar System with a thick atmosphere. It has been believe by scientist for quite some time that Titan has a very good chance of having liquid oceans that consist of organic chemicals that so far have not been positively confirmed. The Cassini Space craft has a probe riding piggyback on in named Huygen that is schedued to be launched to the surface of Titan and take never before seen photo’s of exactly whats going on beneath Titans Atmosphere. I don’t know about you guys, but I can hardly wait to see what lies beneath the cloud cover of this mysterious moon. [[http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/07/cassini.spot/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/07/cassini.spot/index.html)]]( [url) Here is a report from CNN that goes a lot deeper in detail about how things are coming along so far 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Starguard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Starguard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starguard)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/2 "2004-05-08T06:45:47Z")
> [@Starguard](#): > > When it comes to the Heavens, I’ve always had a passionate curiosity of the unknown. NASA’s Space probe Cassini has been en route toward the Planet Saturn now for quite some time. For those that are familiar with this project, there is a Mercury Sized moon orbiting Saturn named Titan that so far is one on the only known moons in our Solar System with a thick atmosphere. It has been believe by scientist for quite some time that Titan has a very good chance of having liquid oceans that consist of organic chemicals that so far have not been positively confirmed. The Cassini Space craft has a probe riding piggyback on in named Huygen that is schedued to be launched to the surface of Titan and take never before seen photo’s of exactly whats going on beneath Titans Atmosphere. I don’t know about you guys, but I can hardly wait to see what lies beneath the cloud cover of this mysterious moon. [Here](http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/07/cassini.spot/index.html) is a report from CNN that goes a lot deeper in detail about how things are coming along so far 🙂 OOP’s!! Lets try this again [Look here](http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/07/cassini.spot/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Starguard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Starguard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starguard)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/3 "2004-05-08T06:47:23Z")
[http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/07/cassini.spot/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/07/cassini.spot/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/4 "2004-05-08T10:23:33Z")
And the General Question you want answered is what, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/5 "2004-05-08T11:26:43Z")
No, I don’t see the question either, so let me take the occasion to once again recommend _Lifting Titan’s Veil_ (Cambridge, 2002) by Ralph Lorenz and Jacqueline Mitton as a nice overview of our pre-Cassini knowledge of Titan. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/6 "2004-05-08T14:58:35Z")
Just in case you haven’t heard of it [http://www.badastronomy.com](http://www.badastronomy.com) . I haven’t seen him post here in a while, but The Bad Astronomer used to be a member. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/7 "2004-05-08T16:51:47Z")
Just testing a reply to this thread as the formatting looks really weird to me and I want to see where my post goes! The Cassini project does sound cool, though! ---
**Author:** ![Starguard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Starguard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starguard)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/8 "2004-05-08T17:37:06Z")
> [@Early Out](#): > > And the General Question you want answered is what, exactly? Sorry everyone :o . While typing in the OP my terminal locked up and I had a little bit of a problem trying to get things back in order again. Anyway, the General Question I failed to ask was, “How many people here are following this and what do you all think the Huygen probe is going to find on Titans surface”? To me, this is a true mystery that I can hardly wait for them to solve :eek: ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/9 "2004-05-08T17:42:46Z")
There is no General Question here, so I’ll move this to IMHO shortly. But first, there’s something weird with the formatting here. Let’s see if we can figure it out. Anyone have a clue ? ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/10 "2004-05-08T18:32:16Z")
> [@Starguard](#): > > When it comes to the Heavens, I’ve always had a passionate curiosity of the unknown. NASA’s Space probe Cassini has been en route toward the Planet Saturn now for quite some time. For those that are familiar with this project, there is a Mercury Sized moon orbiting Saturn named Titan that so far is one on the only known moons in our Solar System with a thick atmosphere. It has been believe by scientist for quite some time that Titan has a very good chance of having liquid oceans that consist of organic chemicals that so far have not been positively confirmed. The Cassini Space craft has a probe riding piggyback on in named Huygen that is schedued to be launched to the surface of Titan and take never before seen photo’s of exactly whats going on beneath Titans Atmosphere. I don’t know about you guys, but I can hardly wait to see what lies beneath the cloud cover of this mysterious moon. [[http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/07/cassini.spot/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/07/cassini.spot/index.html)]]( [url) Here is a report from CNN that goes a lot deeper in detail about how things are coming along so far 🙂 This is creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Thaumaturge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@Thaumaturge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thaumaturge)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/11 "2004-05-08T19:27:26Z")
The hamsters must be preparing to strike. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/12 "2004-05-08T19:57:30Z")
> [@Starguard](#): > > OOP’s!! Lets try this again > [Look here](http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/07/cassini.spot/index.html) That’s where things went wrong. > [@Starguard](#): > > OOP’s!! Lets try this again > [Look here](http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/07/cassini.spot/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/13 "2004-05-08T20:00:54Z")
[Look here](http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/07/cassini.spot/index.html) When quoting the second post the text disappears but the link remains. why? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/14 "2004-05-08T20:08:53Z")
> [@Starguard](#): > > When it comes to the Heavens, I’ve always had a passionate curiosity of the unknown. NASA’s Space probe Cassini has been en route toward the Planet Saturn now for quite some time. For those that are familiar with this project, there is a Mercury Sized moon orbiting Saturn named Titan that so far is one on the only known moons in our Solar System with a thick atmosphere. It has been believe by scientist for quite some time that Titan has a very good chance of having liquid oceans that consist of organic chemicals that so far have not been positively confirmed. The Cassini Space craft has a probe riding piggyback on in named Huygen that is schedued to be launched to the surface of Titan and take never before seen photo’s of exactly whats going on beneath Titans Atmosphere. I don’t know about you guys, but I can hardly wait to see what lies beneath the cloud cover of this mysterious moon. [[http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/07/cassini.spot/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/07/cassini.spot/index.html)]]( [url) Here is a report from CNN that goes a lot deeper in detail about how things are coming along so far 🙂 test ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/15 "2004-05-08T20:13:09Z")
[/quote] test. (last one. honest) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/16 "2004-05-08T20:22:51Z")
Putting a vB url tag inside another vB url tag with double quotes creates a rift in the continuum. That was bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/17 "2004-05-08T20:27:56Z")
> [@DrMatrix](#): > > Putting a vB url tag inside another vB url tag with double quotes creates a rift in the continuum. > > That was bizarre. Did I just see a Mod tell people how to re-create this glitch? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Starguard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Starguard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starguard)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/18 "2004-05-08T20:44:15Z")
Oh Oh, I think I broke it :o ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-in-on-the-planet-saturn-i-can-hardly-wait/244152/19 "2004-05-08T21:24:20Z")
> [@xash](#): > > There is no General Question here, so I’ll move this to IMHO shortly. > > But first, there’s something weird with the formatting here. Let’s see if we can figure it out. Anyone have a clue ? Given the direction this thread has taken, I’d suggest ATMB instead of IMHO! 😃