Tag Archives: Cassini

Astronomy News

Goodbye, and thanks for all the science!

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft and ESA’s Huygens probe expanded our understanding of the kinds of worlds where life might exist and eight more reasons the mission changed the course of planetary exploration.  Nine Reasons Cassini-Huygens Matters


https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/

https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html

Loss of contact with the Cassini spacecraft occurred at 4:55 a.m. PDT (7:55 a.m. EDT), with the signal received by NASA’s Deep Space Network antenna complex in Canberra, Australia.

 

Astronomy News

Long Range Sensors Detect…

  • Cassini–Fabulous pictures of Saturn, rings, and moons.
  • Cassini’s final view of Earth from Saturn
  • Lego’s Saturn 5 kit
  • The largest SETI initiative ever
  • How does sound travel on Mars?
  • 27 best Hubble images on its 27th anniversary


Cassini–Fabulous pictures of Saturn, rings, and moons.

https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/04/the-final-days-of-cassini

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-blogs/cassini-survives-first-grand-finale-dive/?

Cassini’s view of Earth from Saturn

Click on the image to see more resolution–Earth is a dot near centre, bottom.

And what Earth looks like from other planets

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/04/cassinis-final-image-of-earth

Lego’s Saturn 5 kit

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/04/apollo-saturn-v-lego-set

The largest SETI initiative ever

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/04/breakthrough-listen–initial-results

How does sound travel on Mars?

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/04/how-loud-is-the-curiosity

27 best Hubble images on its 27th anniversary

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/04/best-of-hubble-images

Astronomy News

Looking up!

Robot looks upNew findings from New Horizons shape understanding of Pluto and its moons

Among the highlights of a recent meeting are insights into Pluto’s geology and composition as well as new details about the unexpected haze in Pluto’s atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind.  Read more, see fabulous montage of images on Astronomy Magazine’s website.

Cassini closes in on Enceladus one last time
NASA’s Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft makes its final close flyby of the ocean-bearing moon Enceladus on December 19.

enceladus_final
A thrilling chapter in the exploration of the solar system will soon conclude, as NASA’s Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft makes its final close flyby of the ocean-bearing moon Enceladus. Cassini is scheduled to fly past Enceladus at a distance of 3,106 miles (4,999 kilometers) on Saturday, Dec. 19, at 9:49 a.m. PST (12:49 p.m. EST).

Although the spacecraft will continue to observe Enceladus during the remainder of its mission (through September 2017), it will be from much greater distances — at closest, more than four times farther away than the Dec. 19 encounter.

The upcoming flyby will focus on measuring how much heat is coming through the ice from the moon’s interior — an important consideration for understanding what is driving the plume of gas and icy particles that sprays continuously from an ocean below the surface.  Read more from the Astronomy website.