OrbitalHub

NASA dixit:

“March 3, 2010. Although traveling at great speed, the Cassini spacecraft managed to capture this close view of Saturn’s small moon Helene during a flyby. Saturn’s atmosphere makes up the background of this composition. This view looks toward the anti-Saturn side of Helene (33 kilometers, or 21 miles across). North on Helene is up and rotated 44 degrees to the right.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 19,000 kilometers (12,000 miles) from Helene and at a sun-Helene-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 25 degrees. Image scale is 113 meters (371 feet) per pixel.”

“After almost 20 years in space, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft begins the final chapter of its remarkable story of exploration: its Grand Finale. Between April and September 2017, Cassini will undertake a daring set of orbits that is, in many ways, like a whole new mission. Following a final close flyby of Saturn’s moon Titan, Cassini will leap over the planet’s icy rings and begin a series of 22 weekly dives between the planet and the rings.

No other mission has ever explored this unique region. What we learn from these final orbits will help to improve our understanding of how giant planets – and planetary systems everywhere – form and evolve.

On the final orbit, Cassini will plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere, sending back new and unique science to the very end. After losing contact with Earth, the spacecraft will burn up like a meteor, becoming part of the planet itself.

Cassini’s Grand Finale is about so much more than the spacecraft’s final dive into Saturn. That dramatic event is the capstone of six months of daring exploration and scientific discovery. And those six months are the thrilling final chapter in a historic 20-year journey.”

Image credit: NASA