Iapetus - the father of Prometheus and Atlas.
In Arthur Clark’s book about 2001, this was the place where the big monolith was.
6 hours until the descent begins…
Picture from Titan.
Wish you were here.
To all those “anti-Cassini” protestors who tried to disrupt the mission in 1997 and 1999, I say :raspberry:.
To NASA and the ESA, I say :bravo:!
Apparently Titan is “bright orange with a tangerine sky” and has the “consistency of creme brulee” What have they been celebrating with ? 
These are the same people who couldn’t land a beagle on Mars (or was that just the Brits?), but have managed the furthest landing from Earth. :bravo:
Makes me feel all warm and fluffy inside, when these people manage something like this, not for money, not to conquer anyone, just purely for scientific knowledge.
NASA Cassini/Huygens home page: saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm
ESA Cassini/Huygens home page: esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/
Now they’re trying to work out what is producing all this methane, it should be broken down by UV light. Now the boffins are searching Titan for a herd of flatulant cows.
Does anyone know if they heard any thunder? I remember reading that the probe was equiped with a microphone, and that some of the scientists were hoping to hear wind or thunder on the way down.
For some reason I liked that idea a lot. Sounds from a foreign world seem almost even more exciting than pictures, in a way.
But then I haven’t heard anything about it since the landing. Anyone know? Perhaps events changed the mission priorities, and the the microphone was put to use, instead, to look for Matthew’s cows…
[quote=“Hobbes”]Does anyone know if they heard any thunder? I remember reading that the probe was equiped with a microphone, and that some of the scientists were hoping to hear wind or thunder on the way down.
For some reason I liked that idea a lot. Sounds from a foreign world seem almost even more exciting than pictures, in a way.
But then I haven’t heard anything about it since the landing. Anyone know? Perhaps events changed the mission priorities, and the the microphone was put to use, instead, to look for Matthew’s cows…[/quote]
For sounds:
[quote=“housecat”]
For sounds:
esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huy … Y3E_0.html[/quote]
Thanks housecat!
I just listened to it. A little disappointing, but I still like the idea – and I give them credit for trying. 
“…the largest, most detailed, global natural color view of Saturn and its rings ever made.”
Cool! 