NASA released stunning images of Saturn's rings during the last mission of Cassini

Cassini captured incredible footage of Saturn's rings. Image details the massive disks of icy particles orbiting. The images were taken by NASA probe while orbiting  through Saturn's ring system. The Cassini mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA and the Italian Space Agency. 

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the solar system, after Jupiter. Along with Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, Saturn is classified as a gas giant. These planets are called Jovian bodies, meaning that they are similar to Jupiter.

The planet is composed of hydrogen and helium and small proportions of other elements. The internal structure of the planet consists of a core of rock and ice, surrounded by a thick layer of metallic hydrogen and a gaseous outer layer. The atmosphere is gentle, though more intense characteristics may occur. The winds on Saturn can reach speeds of 1,800 km / h, much faster than those on Jupiter. It has a magnetic field whose strength is intermediate between that of Earth and Jupiter's strong field.

'We must believe then, that as from hence we see Saturn and Jupiter; if we were in either of the Two, we should discover a great many Worlds which we perceive not; and that the Universe extends so in infinitum.' -  Cyrano de Bergerac - 

The images of Saturn during the last mission of Cassini

The images are among the last taken by the probe, because in September after 20 years of research, Cassini will collapse in the giant gas, according to Science Alert. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. 

Carolyn Porco of the Space Science intitle in Boulder, Colorado says:

"As the person who planned those initial orbit-insertion ring images -- which remained our most detailed views of the rings for the past 13 years. I am taken aback by how vastly improved are the details in this new collection. How fitting it is that we should go out with the best views of Saturn's rings we've ever collected." 

Images taken at high quality were made at a distance of 550 meters, approximately the same height as that of the tallest buildings on earth.

This image shows a region in Saturn's A ring. The extent of detail is two times higher as this part of the rings.

This image shows a region in Saturn's outer B ring and from this view, it is clear that there are still finer details to uncover. 

This Cassini image features a density wave in Saturn's A ring (at left) that lies around 134,500 km from Saturn. Density waves are accumulations of particles at certain distances from the planet. This feature is filled with clumpy perturbations, which researchers informally refer to as "straw." The wave itself is created by the gravity of the moons Janus and Epimetheus, which share the same orbit around Saturn. Elsewhere, the scene is dominated by "wakes" from a recent pass of the ring moon Pan. 

Images Credits

The probe was at its closest distance of Saturn that ice particles began to strike the ship. Researcher Linda Spilker says that in the information received, they heard hitting the particles of Cassini.

  ''The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.''  - Mark Russel -  

It will be sad to lose Cassini, but it's going into the night for the most honourable of reasons.

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