DVD of 'Touchdown on Titan' Now Available Or so guests were told at the start of our new year lecture. However, this did not stop almost 300 people filling the largest lecture hall in Trinity College to listen to Professor John Zarnecki, probably the most famous space scientist in the world. "Space travel is utter bilge!" was Professor Zarnecki's opening slide but he quickly explained to us it was the opinion of the Astronomy Royal Richard Wooley in 1956, who was embarrassed to see Sputnik launched the following year. The crowd laughed, and not for the last time as Professor Zarnecki took us through a personal journey of his career, from the highs of the Hubble Space Telescope to the disappointing lows of Beagle 2. But none of these could compare to the Cassini-Huygens mission which resulted in the furthest ever moon landing in human history. The audience were held spellbound by the breathtaking 3D images and videos of Huygens' descent through Titan's thick atmosphere into the vast frozen icebound landscape and seas of liquid methane. Up until the landing, nothing was known about Titan other than its freezing temperature of -190 degrees Celsius and its significant methane content. However, the world that was uncovered by Huygens was an "Earth in deep freeze", a freezing moon etched with channels and a 70km thick crust of ice with a hidden ocean beneath. Professor Zarnecki summed up Titan as "Earth-like and alien at the same time". The lecture finished with the future missions Professor Zarnecki will be involved with, including the European mission Exo-Mars which eventually aims to put a lander on the surface of Mars, and the possibilities for various missions aiming towards the eventual settlement of man on Mars. He admitted himself it sounds "a little like science fiction" but added that it is "no more fanciful than talking about Cassini 25 years ago". No doubt everyone is excited about Professor Zarnecki's future missions and the discoveries he will make about our solar system. This amazing lecture is now available for everyone to buy at a cost of just 7 euro plus p&p. You can also listen to Professor Zarnecki's interview on RTE's Gerry Ryan Show, where he discussed his lecture for Astronomy Ireland and his work at www.astronomy.ie/audio ORDER HERE Astronomy Ireland www.astronomy.ie Tel (01) 847 0777