NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is on its last legs with its last chosen mission that involves a series of close Saturn passes, approaching within the rings, then an entry into Saturn’s atmosphere on September 15, 2017, that will destroy the spacecraft.
The photos offer researchers the closest view of the outer parts of Saturn’s main rings ever seen, according to NASA.
This will be among the most detailed images ever taken of Saturn’s outer rings, and according to NASA, they offer researchers the closest view of the outer parts of Saturn’s main rings ever seen.
“How fitting it is that we should go out with the best views of Saturn’s rings we’ve ever collected,” Cassini Imaging Team Lead Carolyn Porco, of Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado, said in a statement.
Cassini will continue to orbit Saturn’s outer rings until April and will then get in between the rings and the planet. Cassini will then ascend into Saturn for a controlled crash-landing after being operational for 20 years. But until this glorious ending, you can suspect that we will be receiving several more great photos from The Ringed Planet.
New, incredibly close views of Saturn’s rings from our “Ring-Grazing” orbits. https://t.co/SUKjTqg1dX pic.twitter.com/TJkD9TPjyX
— CassiniSaturn (@CassiniSaturn) 30 januari 2017
This image shows a region in Saturn’s outer B ring. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft viewed this area at a level of detail twice as high as it had ever been observed before. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute, Public DomainReference:
NASA: Close Views Show Saturn’s Rings in Unprecedented Detail