by neufer » Thu Aug 20, 2020 1:32 pm
heehaw wrote: ↑Thu Aug 20, 2020 9:36 am
To think that it was only 365 years ago, that Christiaan Huygens, through his little telescope, discovered Titan - first moon of Saturn to be discovered!
- Christiaan Huygens' little telescope
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_(moon)#Observation_and_exploration wrote:
<<In 1907 Spanish astronomer Josep Comas i Solà observed limb darkening of Titan, the first evidence that the body has an atmosphere. In 1944 Gerard P. Kuiper used a spectroscopic technique to detect an atmosphere of methane.
The first probe to visit the Saturnian system was Pioneer 11 in 1979, which revealed that Titan was probably too cold to support life. It took images of Titan, including Titan and Saturn together in mid to late 1979. The quality was soon surpassed by the two Voyagers.
Titan was examined by both Voyager 1 and 2 in 1980 and 1981, respectively. Voyager 1's trajectory was designed to provide an optimized Titan flyby, during which the spacecraft was able to determine the density, composition, and temperature of the atmosphere, and obtain a precise measurement of Titan's mass. Atmospheric haze prevented direct imaging of the surface, though in 2004 intensive digital processing of images taken through Voyager 1's orange filter did reveal hints of the light and dark features now known as Xanadu and Shangri-la, which had been observed in the infrared by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Voyager 2, which would have been diverted to perform the Titan flyby if Voyager 1 had been unable to, did not pass near Titan and continued on to Uranus and Neptune.>>
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To think that it was only 40 years ago, that NASA was willing to risk the unprecedented
Grand Tour of Uranus & Neptune by
both Voyager spacecraft in order to observe
a hazy orange fuzz ball [float=right][img3=Christiaan Huygens' telescope without tube]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Aerialtelescope.jpg/800px-Aerialtelescope.jpg[/img3][img3=Voyager 1's forgettable view of Titan.]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Titan%27s_thick_haze_layer-picture_from_voyager1.jpg[/img3][/float][quote=heehaw post_id=305360 time=1597916199]
To think that it was only 365 years ago, that Christiaan Huygens, through his little telescope, discovered Titan - first moon of Saturn to be discovered!
[/quote]
[list][size=115]Christiaan Huygens' [b][u][i][color=#0000FF]little[/color][/i][/u][/b] telescope[/size] :?: :arrow: [/list]
[quote=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_(moon)#Observation_and_exploration]
<<In 1907 Spanish astronomer Josep Comas i Solà observed limb darkening of Titan, the first evidence that the body has an atmosphere. In 1944 Gerard P. Kuiper used a spectroscopic technique to detect an atmosphere of methane.
The first probe to visit the Saturnian system was Pioneer 11 in 1979, which revealed that Titan was probably too cold to support life. It took images of Titan, including Titan and Saturn together in mid to late 1979. The quality was soon surpassed by the two Voyagers.
Titan was examined by both Voyager 1 and 2 in 1980 and 1981, respectively. Voyager 1's trajectory was designed to provide an optimized Titan flyby, during which the spacecraft was able to determine the density, composition, and temperature of the atmosphere, and obtain a precise measurement of Titan's mass. Atmospheric haze prevented direct imaging of the surface, though in 2004 intensive digital processing of images taken through Voyager 1's orange filter did reveal hints of the light and dark features now known as Xanadu and Shangri-la, which had been observed in the infrared by the Hubble Space Telescope. [b][u][color=#0000FF]Voyager 2, which would have been diverted to perform the Titan flyby if Voyager 1 had been unable to[/color][/u][/b], did not pass near Titan and continued on to Uranus and Neptune.>>[/quote]
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To think that it was only 40 years ago, that NASA was willing to risk the unprecedented [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour_program]Grand Tour[/url] of Uranus & Neptune by [b][u]both[/u][/b] Voyager spacecraft in order to observe [url=https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article11983512.ece/ALTERNATES/s1168v/TRUMP-HAIR-FINAL.jpg]a hazy orange fuzz ball[/url] :arrow: