Composite Panorama Of Titan’s Surface During Huygens Descent

This composite was produced from images returned yesterday, 14 January 2005, by ESA’s Huygens probe during its successful descent to land on Titan. It shows a full 360-degree view around Huygens. The left-hand side, behind Huygens, shows a boundary between light and dark areas. The white streaks seen near this boundary could be ground ‘fog’, as they were not immediately visible from higher altitudes. As the probe descended, it drifted over a plateau (centre of image) and was heading towards its landing site in a dark area (right). From the drift of the probe, the wind speed has been estimated at around 6-7 kilometres per hour. These images were taken from an altitude of about 8 kilometres with a resolution of about 20 metres per pixel.

Credits: ESA/NASA/University of Arizona

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