NASA’s Cassini Dives Past Saturn’s Rings

[The Seeker]

Just saw this and thought I would pass it along...


NASA's Cassini Dives Past Saturn's Rings

https://www.yahoo.com/news/nasa-cassini-dives-past-saturn-050449000.html

The Cassini spacecraft has begun the first phase of its mission "endgame" by making its first close dive past the outer edges of Saturn's rings, NASA announced Monday.

The spacecraft, which has been in orbit around the gas giant since 2004, crossed through the plane of the rings at 8:09 a.m. EST on Sunday at a distance of approximately 57,000 miles above Saturn's cloud tops — just 6,800 miles from the F ring, which is roughly 500 miles wide.

Saturn's rings, first observed by Galileo in 1610, are made mostly of water-ice granules. The planet has four main ring systems, named alphabetically in the order they were discovered — A, B, C and D — and several other, much fainter rings that lie farther from the planet. Cassini will, during its planned ring crossings in March and April, plunge through the dusty outer reaches of the F ring.

More at the linky...

Seeker

[micjer]

http://www.space.com/35412-cassini-sees-saturn-rings-over-shoulder-photo.html#ooid=E2ZTJ4NTE61OGjVm8Y_ieT4iPoRUVr0C


http://www.space.com/35412-cassini-sees-saturn-rings-over-shoulder-photo.html