by DON BARRETT
An eclipse of the Sun by Saturn as seen from 1.2 million kilometers. Earth is below and to the right of the disk, as seen from 1.4 billion kilometers (inset). IMAGE/NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Since its successful insertion into orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft has proved to be one of the most fruitful scientific explorations ever conducted. For the past ten years, Cassini has provided extraordinary scientific data on Saturn’s atmosphere and magnetic field, its complex ring system and its numerous moons, including the descent of the Huygens probe onto the surface of Saturn’s largest satellite, Titan. To date, Cassini is the only man-made object to enter orbit around that planet.
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One of Cassini’s first major activities was the dispatch of the Huygens probe to parachute through the atmosphere of Titan, which has an atmosphere of approximately Earth’s pressure but at a much colder temperature. (See: Huygens probe lands on Titan: a scientific leap for mankind) Titan remains the most distant body on which mankind has landed. Huygens measured wind speeds during its descent while simultaneously detailing the composition of Titan’s atmosphere and photographing its surface. The probe also provided further evidence of organic compounds, including amino acids, in the atmosphere.
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