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January 15, 2005

Going where no man has gone before ....

Listening to the radio and watching the television for news of the Huygens probe and the pictures it has sent back from Titan, one can only marvel at the wonders still to be explored in the greater creation lying beyond our own tiny speck in the universe. That the Cassini space craft and the Huygens probe have arrived at all where they were headed is nothing short of miraculous. The pictures coming back from Huygens are even more so.

It is not that many years since the best views we could get from the Moon landers were hazy, distorted, and blurred. Now, from much further out, from inside an atmosphere that is at a temperature so far below freezing that it is almost unimaginable, that this atmosphere itself is made up of a toxic flammable mixture of gases, we are receiving digital pictures which show amazing details.

One wonders only at what will be available in another 30 years. In the meantime, I remain fascinated by the unfolding wonders of this strange and very alien moon, circling an even stranger planet. I suspect that the coming days will present us with more mysteries than answers in the short term, but it also brings the day when humans will travel to these regions for exploration a little nearer.

Carpe diem, NASA and the ESA!

Posted by The Gray Monk at January 15, 2005 10:37 AM

Comments

I really want Huygens II to warm things up a little on cold Titan by lighting a match. Should be interesting, at least.

Posted by: Nomennovum at January 20, 2005 04:58 PM