The moon’s leading hemisphere sweeps its orbit clean of dark dust, giving Iapetus a two-toned appearance. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute . The change in seasons brought a huge storm that wrapped around Saturn’s northern hemisphere. The moons Prometheus and Pandora straddle the narrow F ring, a thin band that is kinked and braided by the inner moon’s gravity. Huygens (/ ˈ h ɔɪ ɡ ən z / HOY-gənz) was an atmospheric entry ESA robotic space probe that landed successfully on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005. The dark Cassini Division separates Saturn’s A and B rings. Cassini-Huygens: 3000x1266x3: PIA22766: Cassini orbiting Saturn (Illustration) Full … Amanda Barnett Cassini watched as Saturn’s rings slowly tipped downward, casting narrower and narrower shadows. Browse 52 ends cassini spacecraft mission stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. The cratered moon Rhea hovers over distant Dione. On the top is one of the earliest images Cassini took of the ringed planet; the other is one of Cassini's final images of Saturn. Cassini detected lightning deep within the planet. Images taken by Cassini's cameras are published directly to the web shortly after they're received from the spacecraft, making them available for anyone to peruse and enjoy. A short video about the end of the Cassini mission. The following week was dedicated to PSG #75, the Cassini Project Science Group meeting at JPL. Cassini photographed the sun’s reflection and used background stars to measure the opacity of the rings. Cassini arrived in the depths of northern winter, with Saturn’s rings tipped up and its north pole in darkness. Over decades, the crests form a spiral wave, a grooved record of past moon crossings. The shadows grew narrower until the spring equinox, when Saturn’s rings and equator were flat to the sun. The planet also boasts a collection of exotic, and still mysterious, moons. A rainbow effect from reflected sunlight. Cassini-Huygens was one of the most ambitious missions ever launched into space. Waves in Saturn’s B ring caused by the moon Janus. Get the latest updates on NASA missions, watch NASA TV live, and learn about our quest to reveal the unknown and benefit all humankind. Each season on Saturn lasts about seven Earth years. From left: Tethys, Enceladus and backlit Titan. Could alien microbes be living inside Enceladus? This is the last image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft before it dove into Saturn's atmosphere. 100 Images From Cassini’s Mission to Saturn By JONATHAN CORUM UPDATED September 15, 2017 NASA’s Cassini spacecraft burned up in Saturn’s atmosphere on Friday, after 20 years in space. Like Earth’s moon, Iapetus orbits with the same side facing its planet. During NASA's Cassini mission's final distant encounter with Saturn's giant moon Titan, the spacecraft captured the enigmatic moon's north polar landscape of lakes and seas, which are filled with liquid methane and ethane. NASA.gov brings you the latest images, videos and news from America's space agency. From deep below the soil at Earth’s polar regions to Pluto’s frozen heart, ice exists all over the solar system...and beyond. But of all of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus was the most surprising. This rare image taken on July 19, 2013, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft has shows Saturn's rings and … The images were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Oct. 17, 2012 at a distance of approximately 500,000 miles (800,000 kilometers) from Saturn. New data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft may solved a longstanding mystery. Cassini obtained the images in this mosaic on May 28, 2017, looking over the horizon just after its sixth pass through the gap between Saturn and its rings as part of the mission's Grand Finale. News, images and videos from the Cassini mission, which explored Saturn and its moons from 2004 to 2017. The first map showing the global geology of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has been completed and fully reveals a dynamic world of dunes, lakes, plains, craters and other terrains. NASA Hyperion is pockmarked and irregular, and tumbles chaotically in its orbit around the planet. Tethys is mostly water ice, marked with a large crater on one side and a canyon running from pole to pole on the other. Cassini returned to Titan over 100 times, using the large moon’s gravity to gradually shift the spacecraft’s orbit around Saturn. Cassini arrived at Saturn in 2004, after a seven-year voyage. The flattened moonlet Pan clears a path inside the rings, while Daphnis leaves a rippled wake where it passes. Cassini discovered geysers near the south pole of Enceladus, where plumes of water shoot into space and fall back as bright snow. Researchers are busy analysing some of the final data sent back from the Cassini spacecraft which has been in orbit around Saturn for more than 13 years until the end of its mission in September 2017. Official website of the Cassini Imaging Team and the Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations (CICLOPS) where Saturn system images are processed, archived, and posted for the scientific community and the public. NASA's Cassini spacecraft has sent to Earth its first views of Saturn's atmosphere since beginning the latest phase of its mission. Using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists found Titan drifting away from Saturn a hundred times faster than previously understood. New measurements of the mass of Saturn's rings reveal their age — and something they have in common with dinosaurs. The Imaging Team leader, Dr. Carolyn Porco, is the Director of CICLOPS. Light from the star Antares filters through the rings. NASA.gov brings you the latest images, videos and news from America's space agency. The planet Saturn is seen in the first color composite made of images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on its approach to the ringed planet, October 21, 2002. The moonlet Atlas, only 19 miles across, follows the sharp edge of Saturn’s A ring. This true color mosaic of Jupiter was constructed from images taken by the narrow angle camera onboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft on December 29, 2000, during its closest approach to the giant planet at a distance of approximately 10 million kilometers (6.2 million miles). It's Likely, NASA Scientists Find, Saturn's Moon Titan Drifting Away Faster Than Previously Thought, Data From NASA's Cassini May Explain Saturn's Atmospheric Mystery, 10 Ways to Celebrate Pi Day with NASA on March 14, The First Global Geologic Map of Titan Completed, New Organic Compounds Found in Enceladus Ice Grains, NASA's Cassini Reveals New Sculpting in Saturn Rings, 10 Things: Unsolved Mysteries of Saturn's Moons, Cassini Finds Saturn's Rings Coat Tiny Moons, Scientists Finally Know What Time It Is on Saturn, NASA's Cassini Data Show Saturn's Rings Relatively New, NASA Research Reveals Saturn is Losing Its Rings at "Worst-Case-Scenario" Rate, Groundbreaking Science Emerges from Ultra-Close Orbits of Saturn, Dust Storms on Titan Spotted for the First Time, Cassini's Final View of Titan's Northern Lakes and Seas, And the Emmy goes to: Cassini's Grand Finale, Saturn's Famous Hexagon May Tower Above the Clouds, Cassini Significant Events 8/1/18 - 8/28/18, Saturn's Famous Hexagon May Tower Above the Clouds (ESA Release), Cassini Significant Events 6/27/18 - 7/31/18, NASA's Cassini Coverage Lands an Emmy Nomination. 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