Cassini Gears Up For Final Fiery Plunge Into Saturn’s Atmosphere

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Link: Cassini gears up for final fiery plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere

 

The countdown has begun. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has spent more than a decade orbiting Saturn, dipping in and out of its rings and peering at its moons. But in just one year, it will begin its grand finale, a daring series of manoeuvres that will bring views of Saturn like never before – and end with the spacecraft plummeting to its death in the gas giant’s atmosphere...

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This images from Cassini of Saturn's cloud tops gives the atmosphere the appearance of oil on water:

 

 

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Saturn is beautiful even without the rings, as seen in this false-color view of its clouds...

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As NASA's Cassini spacecraft made its first-ever dive through the gap between Saturn and its rings on April 26, 2017, one of its imaging cameras took a series of rapid-fire images that were used to make this movie sequence. The video begins with a view of the vortex at Saturn's north pole, then heads past the outer boundary of the planet's hexagon-shaped jet stream and continues further southward...

 

Link 1: New Movie Shows Cassini's First Dive over Saturn

 

Link 2: The Grand Finale Toolkit

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Link: Cassini Noodle Mosaic of Saturn

 

 

As a single image:

 

 

This mosaic of images combines views captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft as it made the first dive of the mission's Grand Finale on April 26, 2017. It shows a vast swath of Saturn's atmosphere, from the north polar vortex to the boundary of the hexagon-shaped jet stream, to details in bands and swirls at middle latitudes and beyond.

 

The mosaic is a composite of 137 images captured as Cassini made its first dive toward the gap between Saturn and its rings. It is an update to a previously released image product (see PIA21441). In the earlier version, the images were presented as individual movie frames, whereas here, they have been combined into a single, continuous mosaic. The mosaic is presented as a still image as well as a video that pans across its length. Imaging scientists referred to this long, narrow mosaic as a "noodle" in planning the image sequence...

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...After almost 20 years in space, NASA's Cassini spacecraft begins the final chapter of its remarkable story of exploration: its Grand Finale.

 

Between April and September 2017, Cassini will undertake a daring set of orbits that is, in many ways, like a whole new mission. Following a final close flyby of Saturn's moon Titan, Cassini will leap over the planet's icy rings and begin a series of 22 weekly dives between the planet and the rings...

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Link 1: Cassini to live-stream its final moments in Saturn’s atmosphere [New Scientist]

 

In a few days, we will receive our last signal from the Cassini spacecraft. But for a few of hours before that, the spacecraft will live-stream a deluge of data to Earth in its last hurrah before burning up in Saturn’s atmosphere...

 

Link 2: The Grand Finale Toolkit [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology]

 

 

[At the time of posting]

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Link: WATCH LIVE: Cassini Dives to Its Death

 

Cassini will plunge into Saturn's thick atmosphere today (Sept. 15) at 7:55 a.m. EDT (1155 GMT), ending its historic 13-year study of the ringed planet and its moons. Watch the event live here from 7-8:30 a.m. EDT (1100-1230 GMT), courtesy of NASA TV.

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Cassini: Space mission's grand finale - BBC News

 

BBC live text coverage.