From Earth to Titan

The first view from the surface of another planet’s moon.

The European Space Agency probe Huygens has arrived on Titan. This journey of human seeing began in 1655 whenChristiaan Huygens discovered the moon with a telescope. Since then, human beings have wondered more and more about Saturn’s biggest moon. It’s not that hard to see for yourself with a small telescope. In fact, the Saturn system is almost exactly at opposition right now, 750 million miles away from us and that’s as close as it will get this time around. Find someone with a telescope and go have a look for the tiny point of light near the ringed planet.

Edward T. Hall and Marshall McLuhan wrote about how technology extends the human faculties over time and space. The Huygens probe was aptly named. Today it shrank the distance of Christiaan Huygens’ viewing from millions of miles to zero. Humans have eyes on Titan. It’s remarkable to think about.

UPDATE: Now we can LISTEN to Titan too!