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What did the photographs from the Huygens probe reveal as it landed on Titan?

a) dry, featureless plains
b) a water world of frozen ice sheets
c) a pockmarked surface covered with volcanos
d) river valleys and an ancient shoreline
e) nothing; there was zero visibility due to the methane smog

User Nightgaunt
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

The Huygens probe's photographs revealed Titan's ancient hydrocarbon lake shore, boulder-strewn plains of water ice, and geological features shaped by a methane-based hydrological cycle.

Step-by-step explanation:

The photographs from the Huygens probe revealed that it landed on the shore of an ancient hydrocarbon lake on Titan, showing features such as drainage channels and an atmosphere with a deep orange sky. Despite the low brightness of the Sun, the images were clear enough to show a flat, boulder-strewn plain. The boulders and surface were composed of water ice, hard as rock at Titan’s frigid temperature of 94 K (-179 °C). Furthermore, cassini orbiter radar and infrared imaging have outlined Titan's complex geological activity, with large methane lakes and a plethora of erosional features, indicating a methane-based hydrologic cycle similar to Earth’s water cycle but with methane and ethane as the working fluids.

User Lev Leontev
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