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Recent Results from Huygens Data

Recent Results from Huygens Data

17 June 2005

Five months after landing on the surface of Titan scientists are steadily uncovering some of the moon's secrets. In recent weeks a number of interesting results have been published based on measurements made by the Huygens probe.

Top image - 3D perspective showing different contour levels. Lower image - original DISR image of the same region

The DISR team have released a short animation, which shows the relative heights of a small region of Titan's suface imaged during the descent. Data analysis suggests vertical differences of around 150 to 250m

Two recent publications present new models for Titan's interior, composition and surface.

Published in the Icarus journal, G. Tobie, et al. propose a new model for the internal structure and composition of Titan as well as the moon's formation and orbital history. The model is setup to investigate the influence of a liquid layer on the evolution of the orbital eccentricity and seeks to explain the current relatively high value of e=0.03. The model can be validated with measurements from Cassini-Huygens.

Full article: "Titan's internal structure inferred from a coupled thermal-orbital model"

Published in MNRAS (Monthly Notices of the Royal Atronomical Society), A. Hagermann, et al. present a method for inferring the relative abundances of the different constituents of a liquid, purely from its physical properties. This idea was inspired by the possible landing of the Huygens probe in a liquid environment, after which measurements by the SSP could provide the relative abundances of methane, ethane, nitrogen and argon.

Full article: "Physical properties as indicators of liquid compositions: Derivation of the composition for Titan's surface liquids from the Huygens SSP measurements"

AGU Joint Assembly

At the 2005 Joint Assembly of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), results from the Cassini-Huygens mission were presented. At the moment, only the abstracts of these results are available:

"The Huygens Doppler Wind Experiment: Results from Titan"
Folkner, W. M., et al., AGU, Spring Meeting 2005, abstract #P14A-02
Abstract

"Radiative Transfer in Primordial Atmosphere of Titan"
Adams, E., et al. AGU, Spring Meeting 2005, abstract #P21C-02
Abstract

"Titan's and Saturn's exospheres: First MIMI Energetic Neutral Atom Observations"
Dandouras, I., AGU, Spring Meeting 2005, abstract #P33A-01
Abstract

"Huygens ASI Measurements At Titan: A New Insight Of Titan's Atmosphere"
Ferri, F., et al., AGU, Spring Meeting 2005, abstract #P34A-05
Abstract

"Confirmation of Our Predictions, Based on Laboratory and Theoretical Studies, on the Findings of the Huygens Probe on Titan"
Bar-Nun, A., et al., AGU, Spring Meeting 2005, abstract #P34A-06
Abstract

"Magnetospheric Drift Resonance Effects on Local Time Asymmetry, Injection Events, and Moon Interactions for Saturn as Compared to Earth"
Cooper, J. F., AGU, Spring Meeting 2005, abstract #SM11A-03
Abstract 

Last Update: 1 September 2019
28-Mar-2024 21:58 UT

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