The Most Distant Craft Landing in the Solar System

The Huygens probe, given long passage by the Cassini spacecraft into the middle of Saturn's minor planetary system, has successfully parachuted onto the surface of Titan, the only moon with a considerable atmosphere. Pictures taken from miles above the surface during the descent and pictures taken on the surface itself suggest the presence of boulders or ice chunks and some kind of shoreline, perhaps of a hydrocarbon lake or sea. The data gained so far include a sort of acoustic sampling of the atmosphere during the descent and some color photographs. The Titan probe is named for Christaan Huygens, who first spotted Titan and who also was the first to provide the proper interpretation of Saturn’s ring system. (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/)