For twenty-five years following the Voyager mission, scientists
speculated about Saturn's largest moon, a mysterious orb clouded in
orange haze. Finally, in 2005, the Cassini-Huygens probe successfully
parachuted down through Titan's atmosphere, all the while transmitting
images and data. In the early 1980s, when the two Voyager spacecraft
skimmed past Titan, Saturn's largest moon, they transmitted back
enticing images of a mysterious world concealed in a seemingly
impenetrable orange haze. Titan Unveiled is one of the first general
interest books to reveal the startling new discoveries that have been
made since the arrival of the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and
Titan.
Ralph Lorenz and Jacqueline Mitton take readers behind the scenes of
this mission. Launched in 1997, Cassini entered orbit around Saturn in
summer 2004. Its formidable payload included the Huygens probe, which
successfully parachuted down through Titan's atmosphere in early 2005,
all the while transmitting images and data--and scientists were startled
by what they saw. One of those researchers was Lorenz, who gives an
insider's account of the scientific community's first close encounter
with an alien landscape of liquid methane seas and turbulent orange
skies. Amid the challenges and frayed nerves, new discoveries are made,
including methane monsoons, equatorial sand seas, and Titan's polar
hood. Lorenz and Mitton describe Titan as a world strikingly like Earth
and tell how Titan may hold clues to the origins of life on our own
planet and possibly to its presence on others.
Generously illustrated with many stunning images, Titan Unveiled is
essential reading for anyone interested in space exploration, planetary
science, or astronomy.
A new afterword brings readers up to date on Cassini's ongoing
exploration of Titan, describing the many new discoveries made since
2006.
