【Gary Eberhart Archives】

In 2005,Gary Eberhart Archives an alien probe flew through the hazy and cold atmosphere of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, and landed on the world's surface.

That spacecraft -- named the Huygens probe -- was sent from Earth by the European Space Agency along with the Cassini spacecraft to help humanity learn more about Saturn and its 53 known moons.

SEE ALSO: These photos of a hexagon on Saturn are totally real

Thanks to a new video released by NASA, you can relive the Huygens' descent to Titan's surface 12 years after it actually landed.

The video shows actual footage from the spacecraft's point of view as it passed through the hazy layers of Titan's atmosphere, spotted "drainage canals" that suggest rivers of liquid methane run on the moon and gently set down on the surface, NASA said.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

In other words, the landing was a big deal. We'd never seen Titan from close range before.

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"The Huygens descent and landing represented a major breakthrough in our exploration of Titan as well as the first soft landing on an outer-planet moon," Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist, said in a statement. "It completely changed our understanding of this haze-covered ocean world."

The Huygens probe transmitted data during its descent but shut down shortly after landing.

Via Giphy

Since then, scientists have pored over the images and information sent back to Earth by the intrepid probe and used the Cassini spacecraft to snap more photos of the cold, haze-covered moon.

Cassini sent back views of Titan's lakes of liquid methane and ethane, as well as sand dunes, dotting the moon's surface.

However, the orbiter won't have many more chances to capture photos of Titan.

Cassini is nearing the end of its mission at Saturn. It will crash into the planet's thick atmosphere in September, closing its eyes on the ringed world and its many moons once and for all.

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