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What we've got is a very primitive atmosphere that has been preserved for 4.6 billion years. Titan gives us the chance for cosmic time travel.
2004-10-27
Cassini Titan Saturn time travelThe Cassini-Huygens mission in orbit around Saturn has discovered two new moons circling the ringed planet. The new discoveries take Saturn's total tally of natural satellites to 33.
2004-08-17
Saturn Cassini-HuygensThe international mission to Saturn - Cassini-Huygens - has successfully entered an orbit around the planet.
2004-07-01
orbit Saturn Cassini-HuygensSaturn's moon Phoebe is almost certainly a primordial object similar to those that served as the building blocks of planets in our Solar System.
2004-06-24
Moon Saturn Phoebe time capsule solar systemImages of Saturn's moon Phoebe from the Cassini spacecraft suggest it may be a relic of objects that formed billions of years ago in the outer Solar System.
2004-06-17
Moon Saturn Phoebe solar systemThe Cassini spacecraft's flyby of Saturn's moon Iapetus has revealed a bizarre geological feature in its images: a bulging ridge at its equator. Mission scientists have started to release detailed images of the moon's surface, which is sharply divided into a bright half and a dark half. The ridge is around 13km (8 miles) high in some places - taller than Mount Everest, the tallest peak on Earth.
2005-01-10
Moon Cassini Saturn Iapetus equator mountainSaturn's vast and majestic ring system has its own atmosphere - separate from that of the planet itself, according to data from the Cassini spacecraft. And Saturn is rotating seven minutes more slowly than when probes measured its spin in the 70s and 80s - an observation experts cannot yet explain.
2005-07-01
atmosphere Cassini Saturn ringThe international Cassini-Huygens probe has had its first opportunity to fly by Saturn's biggest moon, Titan. Already the spacecraft has managed to detect large linear features on Titan's surface which are obscured from Earth telescopes by its thick atmosphere. Imaging specialists said these could be tectonic structures - areas of crust which had been shaped by movement.
2004-07-02
Moon Titan Saturn Cassini-HuygensScientists examining images from the Cassini craft think they may be closer to showing there is liquid hydrocarbon on Saturn's moon Titan. Radar images of a strip of the moon, covering 1% of the surface, revealed dark patches which could indicate liquid methane or ethane.
2004-10-29
Moon Titan Saturn hydrocarbon methane ethaneThe Huygens probe is on target and all set for its encounter with Titan, the mysterious large moon of Saturn. The 2.7m-wide robot lab has passed its final systems check-out and scientists have confirmed the rendezvous can go ahead on 14 January as planned. Huygens has spent the past seven years riding on the Cassini spacecraft, which arrived at the ringed planet in July. The probe's ejection and plunge into Titan's thick...
2004-12-03
Moon atmosphere Titan Saturn Huygens landScientists have released the first results from the Huygens probe's journey to Saturn's moon Titan, along with amazing new images. They also played sounds recorded as Huygens dived towards the surface. Measurements suggest the area it landed on has the consistency of "creme brulee" and may have once been flooded.
2005-01-15
landing Moon photography Titan Saturn Huygens soundScientists will comb data sent back from Titan by the Huygens probe for the chemical signature of life in a bid to identify the moon's source of methane. Methane is constantly destroyed by UV light so there must be a source within Titan to replenish the atmosphere. Life is a possible - though some think unlikely - source of this hydrocarbon along with geological processes. The surface is too cold for biology, but microbes could...
2005-01-25
Moon extraterrestrial life Titan Saturn methane Huygens