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Cassini moves in closer to the jewel of our solar system! According to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's article Cassini Makes First Ring-Grazing Plunge:
Cassini crossed through the plane of Saturn's rings on Dec. 4 at 5:09 a.m. PST (8:09 a.m. EST) at a distance of approximately 57,000 miles (91,000 kilometers) above Saturn's cloud tops. This is the approximate location of a faint, dusty ring produced by the planet's small moons Janus and Epimetheus, and just 6,800 miles (11,000 kilometers) from the center of Saturn's F ring.
The BBC brings us news of new Saturn images from the Cassini mission, including the hexagon-shaped storm in Saturn's northern atmosphere:
Cassini began what are known as its ring-grazing orbits on 30 November. Each of these week-long orbits - 20 in all - lifts the spacecraft high above Saturn's northern hemisphere before sending it hurtling past the outer edges of the planet's main rings.
Nasa said that it would release images from future passes that included some of the closest-ever views of the outer rings and small moons that orbit there.
Carolyn Porco, the head of Cassini's imaging team, commented: "This is it, the beginning of the end of our historic exploration of Saturn.
"Let these images - and those to come - remind you that we've lived a bold and daring adventure around the Solar System's most magnificent planet."
See also NASA JPL's release regarding the new images.
For more information, NASA JPL also provides a summary page for Cassini's ring-grazing orbits, including a diagram of the probe's projected orbital path, a glossary, and a countdown timer to the second ring-grazing orbit.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 07 2016, @08:31PM
No photos to be found anywhere. DOWN WITH FAKE NEWS!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 07 2016, @08:41PM
Merry Christmas and down with false religion!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 07 2016, @10:01PM
There is no false religion since its all based on belief. Except scientology, when the founder creates the religion to win a bet... well that is some false religion warning sign!
I'll just be happy the Sun starts staying in the sky longer and pray (haha) that no one starts WW3. C'mon 2016, you can do it! Don't listen to those people telling you to go out with a bang!
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday December 07 2016, @10:08PM
http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/12/from-high-above-saturn-cassini-spies-an-odd-hexagon-shaped-storm/ [arstechnica.com]
(Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday December 08 2016, @02:12PM
I'm hoping we get some new angles soon. I realize a lot of the images were stock photos, so I should have rethought the headline.