Cassini mission to Saturn (1997-2017)

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An undated image released by Nasa on August 14th, 2017, shows an artist's rendering of Cassini as the spacecraft makes one of its final five dives through Saturn's upper atmosphere in August and September 2017. The spacecraft will end its expedition on September 15th, 2017, following a series of 22 dives through the 2,400km gap between Saturn and its rings, with a final plunge into the gas giant. The operation aims at gaining insights into the planet's structure and atmosphere as well as at capturing views of its inner rings. Nasa''s Cassini spacecraft is in orbit around Saturn since 2004. Image: EPA/Nasa/JPL-Caltech

An image taken by the Cassini spacecraft on July 3rd, 2004, shows Saturn casting a shadow over its rings. The camera is some 1,513,849km away from the planet. Cassini was launched nearly seven years ago by a joint project of Nasa and the European and Italian space agencies. It became the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn and its rings and moons after an "orbit insertion" manoeuvre. Photograph: Reuters/Courtesy Nasa/JPL-Caltech

An ultraviolet image of Saturn released by Nasa and the University of Colorado on July 7th, 2004, shows, from the inside out, the 'Cassini division' in faint red (L) is followed by the A ring in its entirety. The A ring begins with a 'dirty' interior of red followed by a general pattern of more turquoise as it spreads away from the planet, indicating a denser material made up of ice. The red band roughly three-fourths of the way outward in the A ring is known as the Encke gap. Image: Reuters/University of Colorado, LASP/Nasa/Handout

Cassini drifted in Saturn's shadow for about 12 hours in 2006 and took this image looking back toward the eclipsed Sun. The night side of Saturn is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own ring system. Next, the rings appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn, slightly scattering sunlight, in this exaggerated color image. Saturn's rings light up so much that new rings were discovered. Far in the distance, at the left, just above the bright main rings, is the pale blue dot of Earth. Image: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, Nasa

Thu Sept 14 2017 - 15:03

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