# What did Huygens land in? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058 "2005-01-16T19:21:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/1 "2005-01-16T19:21:14Z")
Looking at the pictures available from Titan [here](http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/cassini_huygens/huygens_land/Picture7.tif) and [here](http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/cassini_huygens/huygens_land/Picture6.tif) (TIFF files) I see some kind of boundary about 1/3 way down the image (about where it says “240cm” in the second link). The rocks & surface detail appear clearer beyond that point in the picture. It looks to me like Huygens landed in a “puddle” and the boundary is the edge of some liquid, but none of the reports have said anything about it. So, am I imagining it? What is the boundary? Trick of the light? Wishful thinking? And, tangentially, is there a better place for the latest news than [space.com](http://space.com) or the ESA site? Thanks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![asrivkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9d8465/32.png) [@asrivkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asrivkin)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/2 "2005-01-16T19:31:32Z")
That would be the $64 question. The accelerometer suggests the area has the consistency of wet clay/compressed snow, _maybe_ with a crust. (no cite-- this is via an email from a collegue, though he said he mentioned it on BBC so it’s fair game). That would suggest it’s not a puddle. The ESA site claims the landing was in a dark area. I don’t know how close to the “shore” this would be-- maybe the area is dark because the dark stuff isn’t liquid. Or maybe it’s just coated with a thin layer of dark liquid. The whole thing is just freaking remarkable. I think the pictures that came down have basically cinched a more involved Titan probe as a high priority for a future planetary mission. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/3 "2005-01-16T19:58:48Z")
“Crème brulée” is the analogy I keep reading about; something hard and crusty for a few cm on the surface, then something semi-solid underneath. Even at these temps, a relatively pure lake of methane/ethane would have very low viscosity, so I wonder if this is kind of like a big mud flat with the surface “dry”, but the stuff underneath still sopping with whatever liquid component gives it some maleability. I keep hearing this stuff referred to as “sludge” or “slush”. Maybe its a mixture of hydrocarbons of various size, some of them pretty solid at these temps, some still liquid and volitile, such that a mixture winds up being like a thick tar. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/4 "2005-01-18T22:05:40Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > …I wonder if this is kind of like a big mud flat… Posted today on the [ESA Huygens Webpage](http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html): > [@](#): > > When the probe landed, it was not with a thud, or a splash, but a ‘splat’. It landed in Titanian ‘mud’. Begging your forgiveness, with advanced thanks for your indulgence, **Loopydude** will now do the Special-Loopydude-Got-An-Astronomical-Analogy-Right dance. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/5 "2005-01-19T00:09:56Z")
re: " It looks to me like Huygens landed in a “puddle” and the boundary is the edge of some liquid" The ESA site also states that there is apparently some methane “fog” near the ground, so that may account for the blurriness. ---
**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 19, 2005, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/6 "2005-01-19T02:08:06Z")
“Methane fog”. “Puddles”. “Snow Crusts”. “Sludge”. Therefore, Huygens landed in…New Jersey. Case closed. 😛😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/7 "2005-01-19T05:24:54Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > “Methane fog”. > “Puddles”. > “Snow Crusts”. > “Sludge”. > > Therefore, Huygens landed in…New Jersey. Case closed. 😛😃 No, now the case has just cracked open. NASA has to explain how they completely screwed up the tracking, didn’t recognize Earth’s surface, and why the gravity seemed right for Titan, even though it was Earth. Complicating all of this is since it landed in New Jersey, it has likely been taken to a chop shop and dismantled. The parts will probably be sold on the black market to underground rocket builders, engineers, and scientists. If you look on Ebay now, it might have entries for spectrometers, heat shields, and used parachutes. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/8 "2005-01-19T05:32:24Z")
> [@me](#): > > The parts will probably be sold on the black market to underground rocket builders, engineers, and scientists. If you look on Ebay now, it might have entries for spectrometers, heat shields, and used parachutes. The parts will of course be used by a mad scientist to build a 1920’s Style “Death-Ray” 😃😃 :ducks flying tomatoes: ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/9 "2005-01-19T11:29:33Z")
I still want to know how DARK it is on Titan. I did ask in GQ but it sank without trace. Titan is a long way from the sun, right? If you or I were to land there (with our winter woollies on, of course), would we be able to see where we were going? ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/10 "2005-01-19T11:49:34Z")
Well Saturn is almost 10 times as far from the Sun as Earth, meaning it receives just a bit over 1% as much light. I don’t know what to compare that to, but if you visit one of the Saturnian satellites, I’d recommend bringing a flashlight. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/11 "2005-01-19T12:01:34Z")
> [@snailboy](#): > > Well Saturn is almost 10 times as far from the Sun as Earth, meaning it receives just a bit over 1% as much light. I don’t know what to compare that to, but if you visit one of the Saturnian satellites, I’d recommend bringing a flashlight. OK… it says [on this page](http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112188/moon_phases.htm) that the full moon is only [sup]1[/sup]/[sub]465,000[/sub] as bright as the sun, and it’s no problem to see on a clear moonlit night. So I guess it’s not as dark as all that on Titan. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/12 "2005-01-19T12:22:00Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > OK… it says [on this page](http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112188/moon_phases.htm) that the full moon is only [sup]1[/sup]/[sub]465,000[/sub] as bright as the sun, and it’s no problem to see on a clear moonlit night. So I guess it’s not as dark as all that on Titan. Wow. I knew the eyes perceived brightness on a power scale, but I didn’t think it was that drastic of one. I was thinking 1% light would be about like full moonlight. It sounds like it would be more like dawn or dusk. ---
**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 19, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/13 "2005-01-19T13:24:12Z")
> [@The Great Zamboni](#): > > No, now the case has just cracked open. NASA has to explain how they completely screwed up the tracking, didn’t recognize Earth’s surface, and why the gravity seemed right for Titan, even though it was Earth. Huygens is an ESA probe. We didn’t screw up nuttin! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/14 "2005-01-19T14:02:59Z")
Why was the probe desined with only an hour or so of battery life? Seem oddly short for multi-billion dollar project. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/15 "2005-01-19T14:16:15Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Why was the probe desined with only an hour or so of battery life? Seem oddly short for multi-billion dollar project. It was rather more than an hour. See the [timeline](http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEMQOI71Y3E_0.html): > [@](#): > > 6.51 Timer triggers power-up of onboard electronics > Triggered by a pre-set timer, Huygens’s onboard electronics power up and the transmitter is set into low-power mode, awaiting the start of transmission. > > 11.18 Huygens begins transmitting to Cassini and front shield released > At about 160 kilometres above the surface, the front shield is released. > > 13.30 Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer lamp turned on > Close to the surface, Huygens’s camera instrument will turn on a light. The light is particularly important for the ‘Spectral Radiometer’ part of the instrument to determine the composition of Titan’s surface accurately. > > 15.44 Cassini stops collecting data > Huygens’s landing site drops below Titan’s horizon as seen by Cassini and the orbiter stops collecting data. Cassini will listen for Huygens’s signal as long as there is the slightest possibility that it can be detected. \*\*Once Huygens’s landing site disappears below the horizon, there’s no more chance of signal, and Huygens’s work is finished. \*\* As for the reasoning, I have bolded the relevant part. Cassini, which acted as a relay station sending Hugens’s data back to Earth, soon passed beyond the landing site and no longer had a line of sight to the probe. So any data still being transmitted from the surface after that time would not be picked up, and extra battery power would therefore be wasted. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-huygens-land-in/285058/16 "2005-01-21T04:30:01Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Huygens is an ESA probe. We didn’t screw up nuttin! 😛 :smack: I knew that. It just sounds like something NASA would screw up. That’s how I messed up. Besides, NASA was in on monitoring it, weren’t they? So, wouldn’t they know it?