Idaho Skies Transcript for the Week of January 13th

PAUL

Welcome to Idaho Skies for the week of January 13^th. We’re your hosts, Paul…

STEPHEN

…and Stephen.

PAUL

Fifteen years this Tuesday, the Huygens space probe landed on Titan. So let’s talk about Huygens and Titan. But first, the Cassini spacecraft was launched to Saturn back in October 1997. The spacecraft then spent 6.5 years traversing the solar system to reach Saturn. Once there, it fired its thrusters and entered orbit.

STEPHEN

On December 25^th 2004, Cassini released the Huygens probe. Huygens was riding piggy-back on the spacecraft and didn’t carry its own set of thrusters. This means Cassini had to aim for Titan before the release and then fire its thrusters afterwards to miss Titan. Titan by the way is Saturn’s largest moon.

PAUL

What makes Titan so special and interesting is that it has a dense atmosphere. In fact, it’s 50% denser than our atmosphere. Like our atmosphere, Titan’s is mostly nitrogen. Unlike ours, Titan’s atmosphere has no oxygen and its freezing cold. On its surface, the temperature is -290 degrees Fahrenheit.  

STEPHEN

Huygens returned images of an icy landscape of hills, dunes, and drainage patterns. Since Titan’s surface is bitterly cold, water ice is as hard as granite. Methane, a gas also on Earth, is a liquid on Titan. The moon therefore has a geological cycle of water and a hydrological cycle of methane. Still, Huygens returned landscape images looking very similar to Earth. 

PAUL

That’s Idaho Skies for the week of January 13^th.  

STEPHEN

Be sure to follow us on Twitter @IdahoSkies for this week’s event reminders and sky maps.

For Idaho Skies this is Stephen…

PAUL

…and Paul.

STEPHEN

Dark skies and bright stars.