Titan, the largest of Saturn's 31 moons, has always been a source of wonder for scientists since it was discovered in 1655 by Christian Huygens, a Dutch astronomer. Now, for the first time, scientists are hoping to get an up close view of the giant moon as the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft launches a probe due to arrive on the surface of Titan on January 14th.

Detailed views of Titan have been made difficult due to a thick layer of clouds that covers the surface of the moon from telescopes located on the earth's surface. The closest scientists have come is when the Voyager I spacecraft passed within 2,500 miles of the giant moon and gave new information to astronomers.

Titan is approximately 3,000 miles in diameter, making it larger than the planet Mercury and the planet Pluto. Based on information from the Voyager I and the Hubble telescope, scientists believe there are land formations on the surface and that it may contain mountains and valleys. Some scientists believe there may even be a chance that life exists on Titan.

'We think it's like Earth there, 4 billion years ago,' said Jean-Pierre Lebreton, the mission's supervisor. Many scientists believe that the surface of Titan contains many of the same building blocks that were early components of life on earth.

Charles Liu of the American Museum of Natural History and City University of New York added, 'The possibility of life could be anywhere,' including Titan which has a surface temperature of roughly -270 Farenheit.

Scientists are hoping the probe lands safely on the moon's surface. 'If it lands on solid material, it may make it,' Liu said. 'If it lands on liquid methane, it's toast.'

Even if the probe does not land successfully, the images it will provide before hitting Titan's surface should provide scientists with a wealth of new information.