The only surface image of Titan, a Saturn moon.

Why is this the only image of the surface of Titan?



This is the only surface image of Titan and the only surface image of a planetary body in the outer solar system. The Huygens surface probe was supposed to capture 700 images but was only able to capture 350 due to NASA losing data channel A. I did a little digging and cannot find a concrete explination as to why we only have ONE surface image of Titan. Maybe some of you Internet slueths or NASA insiders can shed some light on this subject. But I did find out some interesting news tidbits.

Titan's seas, lakes and rivers of hydrocarbons are among the reasons why the murky Saturnian moon ranks higher than Mars on a recently published list assessing planetary habitability. That may sound strange, considering that the typical temperature on Titan is 289 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-178 degrees Celsius). But Dirk Schulze-Makuch, an astrobiologist at Washington State University who helped put together the list, told me that it makes sense to rank Titan as the top prospect for extraterrestrial habitability.
MSNBC Link

Here is what NASA has to say about the probe.

The Huygens Probe was named after Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch astronomer who in 1655 discovered Titan, Saturn's largest moon. The probe was designed by the European Space Agency (ESA), to perform an in-depth study of the clouds, atmosphere, and surface of Titan. NASA Link

Here is some interesting info from the ESA site.

ORBIT:
To reach Saturn, Cassini-Huygens used a series of gravity-assist manoeuvres, with swing-bys from Venus (2x), Earth and Jupiter.
On 1 July 2004 the spacecraft entered into orbit around Saturn after being captured by the planet's gravity.

ACHIEVEMENTS:
The Huygens probe has successfully landed on Saturn's largest moon Titan. At around 11:30 UTC 14 January 2005 the probe touched down on the surface of this distant world. This event makes it the only landing to take place in the outer Solar System and the furthest from Earth.
ESA Link

-WIKI Sources-
Titan
Huygens Probe

Always the games with the colors....
This is from nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov -



From JPL.NASA -



From Nasa.gov -



Yours and these 3 are all different manipulated shades. Which is the true color of Titan's sky and surface?

My only guess is NASA is still trying to change the color, image background and sky and all that jazz. They never release clean, un altered photos.

Originally posted by BIGPoJo
Why is this the only image of the surface of Titan?

From the ESA website...

"The probe's parachute disappeared from sight on landing, so the probe probably isn't pointing east, or we would have seen the parachute," said DISR team member Mike Bushroe.

That indicates to me that the camera is "fixed" on the spacecraft and cant be moved.
So in fact there may be a whole lot of Titan surface images, but they all look exactly the same.

There are 37 pages of photos here though many look the same.

Originally posted by schuyler
There are 37 pages of photos here though many look the same.

So blue-ish sky then?



Just wanted to make sure that NASA was still making planets and moons look like CO2 & sulfur rich atmospheres that look totally inhabitable.

reply to post by JibbyJedi

So blue-ish sky then?

Where do you see blue? That photo is black and white.

Originally posted by AaronWilson
My only guess is NASA is still trying to change the color, image background and sky and all that jazz. They never release clean, un altered photos.

This was an ESA addition to a NASA probe, ESA has all the raw data, not NASA. It's available here:
esamultimedia.esa.int...
CCDs do not perceive light the way the human eye does. There is no one "right answer" for assembling these into color images. It's nothing nefarious.

At first glance, that picture looks as though there is shallow "water/hydrocarbons".

Nice pic, but I will now have to dig into the other pics.

Originally posted by JibbyJedi

Originally posted by schuyler
There are 37 pages of photos here though many look the same.

So blue-ish sky then?



Just wanted to make sure that NASA was still making planets and moons look like CO2 & sulfur rich atmospheres that look totally inhabitable.

So, amateur astronomers are in on this hoax too eh?
astro.christone.net...
/sarc

Take it easy, everybody. It's okay. I color-corrected it.

reply to post by Blue Shift


Wow, so amateur astronomers and anyone else who reports that Titan is brown has been lying all along! I never knew!

Wow, well-rounded rocks. That's something in itself. When rocks are broken they usually exhibit angular edges, when they are subject to aeolian forces they are often shaped as ventifacts. So, well-rounded has all sorts of implications.

Originally posted by Blue Shift
Take it easy, everybody. It's okay. I color-corrected it.

WOW WTH? how did you dothis

Originally posted by 8ILlBILl8

Originally posted by Blue Shift
Take it easy, everybody. It's okay. I color-corrected it.

WOW WTH? how did you dothis

How do you think? I imported it into Photoshop and got out my paintbrush tool and slapped the correct colors on top of it, rather than all that orange stuff. A little blue for the sky, some green and brown for the ground and rocks. Just like you'd probably see it if you were actually there.

Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument - Check
Doppler Wind Experiment Instruments - Check
Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer - Check
Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer - Check
Aerosol Collector and Pyrolyser - Check
Surface-Science Package - Check

Color camera with tilt/pan capabilities - um... no ?

Seriously, WTF?

Originally posted by Blue Shift

Originally posted by 8ILlBILl8

Originally posted by Blue Shift
Take it easy, everybody. It's okay. I color-corrected it.

WOW WTH? how did you dothis

How do you think? I imported it into Photoshop and got out my paintbrush tool and slapped the correct colors on top of it, rather than all that orange stuff. A little blue for the sky, some green and brown for the ground and rocks. Just like you'd probably see it if you were actually there.

Yup, because all those astronomers are lying, right?

Originally posted by ngchunter
Yup, because all those astronomers are lying, right?

When an astronomer makes it to Titan and takes a photo of it with a camera I personally give them that I know works right, then I'll believe it. Until then, it's just my opinion against theirs, and which of us has the most motivation to make something up?

reply to post by BIGPoJo


strange, rounded stones would seem to imply running water erosion?
who am i to say?

Originally posted by Lee78
strange, rounded stones would seem to imply running water erosion?

who am i to say?

A lot of other things could cause erosion besides water. Scouring by tiny dust particles (you don't even need wind for that), freezing and cooling that creates expansion fractures, heat melting rocks, etc. Hey, maybe even liquid methane could act as an erosional agent. Lots of stuff.