Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Enceladus’s Dance

Hanging on Saturn’s rings: Enceladus’s dance
Photo credit: NASA/JPL

Cassini Mission, started in 1997, prepares for its “grand finale”. On November 30, the probe will start the maneuver that will crown its space odissey, scheduled for 2017, with a spectacular series of daring dives between and into Saturn’s rings which will last until September 15, 2017, when Cassini will plunge into the upper atmosphere of the gas giant planet, where it will burn up like a meteor, ending its epic mission to the Saturn system.
Cassini Mission is a NASA/ESA/ASI mission to explore the Saturnian system, and expecially the ringed planet and its moons in detail. Among the most important discoveries are a global ocean hidden beneath the icy crust of Saturn’s geologically active moon Enceladus and methane seas on Titan (Saturn’s largest moon).

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