Last night Cassini made it’s first plunge into the space between Saturn and its rings. Following several hours out of contact with Earth (due to the planet blocking signals), the probe emerged unscathed and provided us closer than ever views of the upper atmosphere of the ringed gas giant!
The gap between Saturn and its rings is no longer unexplored space – and we're going back 21 times. #GrandFinale! https://t.co/TSA7uQe4KS pic.twitter.com/t9RlhEsWCP
— NASA Solar System (@NASASolarSystem) April 27, 2017
Cassini has been in space for nearly 20 years and virtually everything on the probe still works – her passing this close to Saturn, beginning her eventual demise will bring us more detailed data than ever before – already, the grainy but detailed photos we have of her cloud tops are fascinating, and I’m certain other measurements and data taken will shed new light on the mysteries of this gas giant.
Our closest look ever at #Saturn’s atmosphere and giant hurricane. #GrandFinale https://t.co/giL0pulIEW pic.twitter.com/Qi3T2wSzc1
— NASA Solar System (@NASASolarSystem) April 27, 2017
I don’t have anything special in the way of additional commentary, I’m just excited to see what we learn from these next few months of diving closer to the planet, and also quite sad to know that this wonderful machine is now set on a course to dive into Saturn.
Still, the data we may gain on that final descent will be incredible.
