Thread: Light on Titan
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Old February 28th 05, 12:40 PM
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rnesto wrote:
But how Huyghens could take landscape pictures?


You said that Saturn has 1/100th the sunlight that Earth does, which is
correct. However, let me say that another way:

"At Saturn's orbit, there is about 14 watts per square meter."

Some comparisons:

If you put a single 100-watt lightbulb in a 3m x 3m room (a bedroom),
you would have 11.1 watts per square meter. At night, you would
probably think that the bedroom was brightly lit.

The light of a full moon on Earth is enough for careful landscape
photography. When your eyes adapt to full moonlight, it can even seem
bright. But it is only .001 watts per square meter.

Titan starts off with dim sunlight (14W/m^2), and then adds thick haze.
However, it is probably better lit than Earth under a full moon, so
there was enough light for landscape photos.

Huygens used lamps on the ground because it provided light of known
power and color, which was useful for certain scientific measurements.

Mike Miller