The Cassini
spacecraft looks over Titan's bright equatorial region at center called Adiri,
from a distance of 71,000 miles (115,000 kilometers).
The biggest
of 52 moons orbiting Saturn, Titan also weighs in as the second largest moon in
the solar system. The cold, hazy world boasts an atmosphere of mostly nitrogen —
as well as methane and ethane — that can resist attempts by telescopes and
cameras to peer inside.
Cassini has
gotten around this by using cloud-penetrating radar to map Titan, and also
launched the Huygens probe on Jan. 14, 2005
to dive into Titan's thick atmosphere and analyze its components. The probe's
landing site is just east of Adiri.
— NASA and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
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