As we
prepare for what promises to be a spectacular fly through between the outer edge of
the rings of Saturn, Cassini will start the first of it 20 ‘flights’ on 30th
of November.
Cassini-Huygens
was in development from the ‘80s and finally launched in 1997. After a 7 year
journey it reached Saturn, and immediately after that Huygens separated and achieved
a spectacular landing on Titan, a moon of Saturn, on 25th December
2004.
Cassini now 19
years into flight and running low on fuel, prepares for a high elliptical orbit
that will take us close to three of the moons of Saturn, and then dip closest
to the outer periphery of the Rings of Saturn, on a weekly basis for 20 weeks.
Once it runs low on fuel, it is planned to have a controlled descent onto Saturn, to end its mission possibly exactly 20 years from launch.
Meanwhile here are a few images from the Hubble Space Telescope of the rings of Saturn- which I think are the most beautiful pictures to date taken from closer to the earth.
Once it runs low on fuel, it is planned to have a controlled descent onto Saturn, to end its mission possibly exactly 20 years from launch.
Meanwhile here are a few images from the Hubble Space Telescope of the rings of Saturn- which I think are the most beautiful pictures to date taken from closer to the earth.
The Below images are now what are the beautiful images sent by Cassini. We can Only imagine what imagery will come in 4 days time.
Pictures Courtesy: NASA Archives.
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