Titan Pr0n

I’m sure its just biological instinct – being attracted to something that resembles the familiar cradle of Mother Earth – but Saturn’s Titan looks right fetching in the above shot released last week from the Cassini spacecraft, composite from several images taken during flybys on 9 and 25 October. This image spans the visual and infrared spectrum, so there’s more surface detail here than you’d see with your eyes at the distance simulated.

Titan is the most Earth-like body in our solar system as both occupy “sweet spots”, balancing mass and distance from the Sun. Titan’s geological features resemble ours with hills, valleys, river networks and mile-high mountain ranges, but its temperature is far colder, averaging on the surface about -290° F (94° K).

You can think of Titan as like the Earth in deep freeze.

Rosaly Lopes, JPL

But enough romanticizing …

LINK/IMAGE [composite w/ more info and higher resolutions] ARTICLE [“Mile-High Mountains Found (…)”] (National Geographic) VIDEO [Huygens probe decent to Titan’s surface]