MAJOR EVENTS
- 1655 MAR 25
Titan dicovered - 1979 SEP 02
First ever close-up picture taken - 1997 OCT 15
Cassini-Huygens launches - 2004 MAY 20
Best resolution picture to-date - 2004 JUL 01
Cassini-Huygens reaches Saturn - 2005 JAN 14
Huygens lands on Titan - 2010 FEB 03
NASA extends mission - 2017 to Come
Cassini's exploration ends - 2017 and Beyond
Future missions
DISCOVERY OF TITAN
Titan was discovered on March 25, 1655, by the Dutch astronomer/physicist Christiaan Huygens. Huygens was inspired by Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's four largest moons in 1610 and his improvements on telescope technology. Christiaan, with the help of his brother Constantijn Huygens, Jr., began building telescopes around 1650. Christiaan Huygens discovered this first observed moon orbiting Saturn with the first telescope they built.
