Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Cassini's Last Ring Portrait at Saturn - UNIVERSE


How should Cassini say farewell to Saturn? Three days before plunging into Saturn's sunny side, the robotic Cassini spacecraft swooped far behind Saturn's night side with cameras blazing. Thirty-six of these images have been merged -- by an alert and adept citizen scientist -- into a last full-ring portrait of Cassini's home planet for the past 13 years.

The Sun is just above the frame, causing Saturn to cast a dark shadow onto its enormous rings. This shadow position cannot be imaged from Earth and will not be visible again until another Earth-launched spaceship visits the ringed giant. Data and images from Cassini's mission-ending dive into Saturn's atmosphere on September 15 continue to be analyzed.
  

Image & info via APOD
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit:  NASA, JPL-Caltech, Space Science Institute, Mindaugas Macijauskas

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