Skip Navigation

Resources

Deep Dive: Cassini Grand Finale (Artist's Concept)

Illustration of spacecraft at Saturn.
Source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Published: March 23, 2016

Artist's concept of Cassini orbiter diving between Saturn's inntermost rings and cloud tops.

Related

+ Unannotated Version The northern and southern hemispheres of Enceladus are seen in these polar stereographic maps, mosaicked from the best-available Cassini clear-filter images. Each map is...
More
The northern and southern hemispheres of Enceladus are seen in these polar stereographic maps, mosaicked from the best-available Cassini clear-filter images.
Enceladus Polar Maps - December 2011 -- North -- Annotated
For hundreds of years, this gaseous giant planet appeared shrouded in colorful bands of clouds extending from dusk to dawn, referred to as zones and belts.
More
Juno's jet-streams
NASA's Juno Spacecraft Reveals the Depth of Jupiter's Colored Bands
This movie sequence of images is from the last dedicated observation of the Enceladus plume by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
More
Enceladus plumes
Last Enceladus Plume Observation
+ Unannotated version These images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft show one of the large seas and a bounty of smaller lakes on Saturn's moon Titan. Scientists saw these small lakes in data obtain...
More
Titan Lake Country
Titan Lake Country (Annotated)
An artist's rendition of the InSight lander operating on the surface of Mars.
More
The InSight lander on Mars
InSight on the Surface of Mars
Phobos and Deimos, the moons of Mars, are seen in this movie put together from 19 images taken by Mars Odyssey's camera.
More
Phobos and Deimos, the moons of Mars
Mars Odyssey Observes Martian Moons
This animated movie shows the simulated solar wind velocity from March 21 to May 10, 2013. 
More
This animated movie shows the simulated solar wind velocity from March 21 to May 10, 2013.
Animation of Spaceweather Predictors 2
This graphic illustrates how scientists on NASA's Cassini mission think water interacts with rock at the bottom of the ocean of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus, producing hydrogen gas (H2). 
More
Illustrated graphic showing what an under ice ocean on Enceladus might look like.
Enceladus Hydrothermal Activity
+ Unannotated version Almost all of the hydrocarbon seas and lakes on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan cluster around the north pole, as can be seen in this mosaic from NASA's Cassini mission....
More
This mosaic, made from near-infrared images of Titan obtained by Cassini's imaging science subsystem, shows a view from the north pole (upper middle of mosaic) down to near the equator at the bottom.
Titan's North: The Big Picture -- Annotated
Animated view of the last seven years of Cassini orbits.
More
Animated view of spacecraft orbits
Solstice Mission Orbits (2010-2017): Cassini Grand Finale (Artist's Concept)
This artist's concept shows "tides" on Titan raised by Saturn's gravity, as detected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Saturn's gravitational pull on Titan, its largest moon, varies as Titan orbits ...
More
This artist's concept shows "tides" on Titan raised by Saturn's gravity, as detected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
Squeezing and Stretching Titan
Saturn's clouds and hazes at three different levels in the atmosphere are depicted in the image on the right, as observed by the visual infrared mapping spectrometer on the Cassini spacecraft. In ...
More
Saturn's clouds and hazes at three different levels in the atmosphere are depicted in the image on the right. The image on the left shows only the upperatmosphere above the 1-bar level.
A 3-D View of Saturn's Clouds and Hazes
A set of eight stickers created from images taken by the Cassini spacecraft.  
More
Collection of Saturn-themed stickers.
Cassini Stickers
This graphic depicts the interplanetary flight path beginning with launch from Earth on 15 October 1997, followed by gravity assist flybys of Venus (26 April 1998 and 24 June 1999), Earth (18 Augus...
More
Interplanetary Trajectory
Interplanetary Trajectory
An artist's impression of Pioneer 10 heading out of the solar system towards the galactic center.
More
Illustration of spacecraft with Milky Way in the background.
Outbound Pioneer (Artist's Concept)
+ Brightening Adiri -- Unannotated Images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft show changes caused by methane rain in the bright Adiri region near the equator of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Altho...
More
Images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft show changes caused by methane rain in the bright Adiri region near the equator of Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
Brightening Adiri -- Annotated
Details of the circular feature, which scientists think is an ice volcano, which could be a source of methane in Titan's atmosphere, show up at wavelengths larger than 1.3 microns (a micron is one-...
More
Six panels of a possible volcano feature taken in six infrared windows
Titan Volcano in Several Infrared Wavelengths
This graphic represents a possible model for mechanisms that could generate the water vapor and tiny ice particles detected by Cassini over the southern polar terrain on Enceladus. This model shows...
More
This graphic represents a possible model for mechanisms that could generate the water vapor and tiny ice particles detected by Cassini over the southern polar terrain on Enceladus.
Modeling 'Warm' Ice on Enceladus
NASA's Cassini mission is closing one chapter of its journey at Saturn and embarking on a new one with a two-year mission that will address new questions and bring it closer to two of its most intr...
More
Artist's rendition of Cassini at Saturn
Cassini's Adventure Ends, and Begins Anew
Artist's rendition of the Pioneer 10 spacecraft at Jupiter.
More
Illustration of spacecraft flying past the limb of Jupiter.
Pioneer 10 at Jupiter (Artist's Concept)
The forceful storm generated unprecedented spikes in temperature and increased amounts of ethylene. In these two sets of measurements taken by Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer, yellow repr...
More
In these two sets of measurements taken by Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer, yellow represents the highest temperatures. Each strip maps a single molecule (top: methane, bottom: ethylene), with temperature measurements taken in the northern hemisphere
Tracking the Saturn Storm in the Infrared
The Cassini mission entered its second extended mission, called the Cassini Solstice Mission, in September 2010. This extension enables scientists to study seasonal and other long-term weather chan...
More
Cassini Solstice Mission artwork
Cassini Solstice Mission
Analysis of periodicities in Saturn kilometric radiation reveals two periods as indicated in this display. The kilometric radio emissions coming from the Northern hemisphere have a period near 10.6...
More
Analysis of periodicities in Saturn kilometric radiation reveals two periods as indicated in this display.
Modulation Periods of Saturn Kilometertic Radiation
Radio signals sent by NASA's Cassini spacecraft to Earth through Saturn's rings revealed the presence of highly unusual regular formations of densely grouped ring particles. The harmonic ring struc...
More
Artist's representation of radio signals passing from the Cassini spacecraft, through Saturn's rings, and onto a satellite dish on earth.
Saturn's Ring Rhythm
The symbols for the planets, dwarf planet Pluto, Moon and Sun (along with the symbols for the zodiac constellations) were developed for use in both astronomy and astrology.
More
Series of symbols.
Solar System Symbols

You Might Also Like