First Images from Titan

These are the first raw images returned by the ESA Huygens probe DISR camera after the probe descended through the atmosphere of Titan.

(Right) This image shows the surface of Titan with ice blocks strewn around. The size and distance of the blocks will be determined when the image is properly processed.

(Top Left) This image was taken from an altitude of 16.2 kilometers with a resolution of approximately 40 meters per pixel. It apparently shows short, stubby drainage channels leading to a shoreline.

(Bottom Left) This image was taken at an altitude of 8 kilometers with a resolution of 20 meters per pixel. It shows what could be the landing site, with shorelines and boundaries between raised ground and flooded plains.

The images were taken with the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer, one of two NASA instruments on the probe.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Descent Imager/Spectral team is based at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.

Credit: ESA/NASA/University of Arizona