Saturn probe through NASA's Cassini spacecraft reportedly grazed at the planet's iconic rings last Dec. 4. The said event was the first dive of the mission's next-to-last stage.
Cloud Tops of Saturn Were Seen Through Cassini As It Zoomed Within 57,000 Miles On Sunday Morning, Plunging Through The Planet's Ring Plane
According to NASA, the plane is around the spot where a vague ring produced by the small moons Epimetheus and Janus and Epimetheus lies. The Cassini is expected to perform 19 more close passes, each a week apart, until April 22, 2017.
According to Cassini project scientist Linda Spilker of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the probe took years of planning before reaching the Saturn orbits. The scientist also added that the whole Cassini team is now ready to study the data coming from the ring-grazing orbits.
Saturn's $3.2 billion Cassini-Huygens exploration is a joint effort among NASA, the Italian Space Agency and the European Space Agency, which was launched in October 1997 and reached the Saturn orbit in July 2004. Meantime, the piggyback Huygens lander came to the surface of Titan in January 2005, while the Cassini mother ship continued the study of Saturn, including its rings and moons.
The Work Seems Bounded Not To Last Longer, As Cassini Flew Close To Titan On April 22
According to reports, the gravity is believed to reshape the probe's orbit until it zooms between the Saturn and the innermost ring that lies 1,500 miles from the planet, Space reported. Meanwhile, jaw-dropping images of Saturn were sent back by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Based on reports, the photos that were taken Saturday and Sunday, reveal scenes from high above the Saturn's northern hemisphere region, which includes one of the planet's unique hexagon-shaped storm.
According to reports, every side of the hexagon is as wide as the Earth, and that a circular storm is found at the center, at Saturn's north pole. Furthermore, the hexagon is the current air in the planet's upper atmosphere, which is the same with Earth's jet streams, according to USA Today. Watch Videos of Space : SATURN - NASA Cassini Images