The Huygens spacecraft is down on the surface of Titan. Apparently 350 images
have already been transmitted back, but only one has been released so far, an
image taken from an altitude of 16km (10mi) during descent.

It shows what appear to mountainous terrain with drainage ditches, structures
called the "valley networks" on Mars. You can see the same kind on thing in
the mountains that butt up against the ocean in California, with the primary
difference being that the terrestrial drainage networks are caused by
precipitation runoff. On Mars, they're due to a process called "sapping", where the
mountains themselves weep the fluids. Titan may be more like California than Mars
in that regard, however. There's no reason at the moment (given how little we
know) not to presume an active fluid cycle on Titan.

Perhaps even more exciting, the image also showed what appeared to be a
shoreline, a clear transition area between mountainous terrain and what appears to
be a lake/ocean-like body.

The first major release of data will occur in a press conference at 11PM CET
(3PM MST), in about an hour from now, and will be broadcast live on NASA TV
(available also on the web).

Wirt Atmar

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