Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Ring Ring

SLOW DECLINE: It's the beginning of the end for Cassini.

According to NASA, today their spacecraft that traveled from Earth to Saturn "entered its first phase of the mission's dramatic endgame, diving diving through the unexplored region at the outer edge of Saturn's main rings."

Nothing lasts forever. Diving through Saturn's rings sounds like a pretty cool way to go!

Launched on my birthday (Oct. 15) in 1997, Cassini arrived to Saturn in 2004. Watching the video below, our Annabelle noted that's the same year she arrived on the (Earth) scene.

On this JPL Web site, you can watch the countdown to Ring-Grazing Orbit #1: https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/2970/nasa-saturn-mission-prepares-for-ring-grazing-orbits/

One of the hallmarks of the Cassini mission was that it also launched a probe, Huygens, which landed on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, in 2005. 

Under parachute, it landed in a frigid floodplain, making history as humanity's first landing on a moon in the outer solar system.

Below are a few of Huygens' photos. Pretty cool, aren't they?

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