Skip Navigation
menu close modal

Resources

Orbit Plot: Cassini Grand Finale (Artist's Concept)

Illustration showing Cassini's final orbits.
Source: NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech / Erick Sturm
Published: February 13, 2017

During its final months, the Cassini spacecraft will climb repeatedly high above the planet’s north pole and then dive between the planet and the innermost edge of its dazzling rings.

More on Cassini's Grand Finale.

Illustration of Cassini's final orbits.
A similar graphic without the final orbit highlighted in orange.

ENLARGE

Related

Presented here is a cartographic map sheet which forms a high-resolution Mimas atlas, a project of the Cassini Imaging Team. Mimas, as imaged by the Voyager spacecraft in the early 1980s, has a ...
More
cartographic map sheet which forms a high-resolution Mimas atlas
The Mimas Atlas (2008)
+ 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
This still is from a short computer-animated film that highlights Cassini's accomplishments and Saturn and reveals the science-packed final orbits between April and September 2017.
More
Cassini entering atmosphere
Entering Atmosphere 1
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 illustration shows the interior of Saturn, including its core of heavy elements (orange), liquid metallic hydrogen layer (grey), and gaseous molecular hydrogen envelope (brown). 
More
Illustration showing the layers of gas and a possible core inside Saturn.
Saturn Interior Cutaway (Illustration)
Scientists from NASA's Cassini mission suggested in a 2016 paper that the appearance of a cloud of dicyanoacetylene (C4N2) ice in Titan's stratosphere may be explained by “solid-state” chemistry ta...
More
A graphic illustrating the chemistry behind a cloud of dicyanoacetylene (C4N2) ice in Titan's stratosphere
'Solid State' Chemistry in Titan Ice Particles
The Cassini spacecraft has logged some impressive numbers in the 12 years since it arrived at Saturn on July 1, 2004. This infographic offers a snapshot of just a few of the mission's big numbers a...
More
Infographic showing trivia numbers about the Cassini mission.
Cassini by the Numbers: 2016
The Cassini spacecraft views Saturn with a selection of its moons in varying sizes. Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is in the center of the image. Titan is 5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles, across...
More
The Cassini spacecraft views Saturn with a selection of its moons in varying sizes.
Moons Small to Large
This artist's concept shows the approximate relative sizes of the terrestrial planets of the inner solar system. Correct distances are not shown.
More
Line up showing four rocky planets in a row.
Terrestrial Planet Sizes
+ 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
The Mariner Mark II spacecraft that was designed to handle both the CRAF, Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby mission, and the Cassini mission.
More
Painting of spacecraft flying close to a comet.
Early Cassini Concept: Mariner Mark II
A scaled down version of our popular series of exploration posters.
More
PDF download of trading cards featuring pictures of planets and moons.
Solar System and Beyond Trading Cards (Complete Set)
The lower panel is a mass spectrum that shows the chemical constituents sampled in Enceladus' plume by Cassini's Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer during its fly-through of the plume on Mar. 12, 20...
More
This mass spectrum shows the chemical constituents sampled in Enceladus' plume
Enceladus Plume Neutral Mass Spectrum Description
This whimsical poster imagines a future where tourists on Mars will visit the historic landing sites of the today's space missions.
More
Futuristic Mars tourism poster.
Explore Mars: Visions of the Future Poster
+ Unannotated Version This image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows an ancient southern sea that used to sprawl out near the south pole of Saturn's moon Titan. In an annotated version, the red...
More
This image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows an ancient southern sea that used to sprawl out near the south pole of Saturn's moon Titan.
Outline of an Ancient Sea on Titan -- Annotated
This map of the surface of Saturn's moon Mimas illustrates the regions that were imaged by Cassini during the spacecraft's flyby of the moon on Aug. 2, 2005. At closest approach, the spacecraft pas...
More
Mimas
Mimas: Closer Than Ever Before
Join us as we approach the second anniversary of the Huygens Probe descent, and help us decide which of the Cassini spacecraft's many spectacular views from the last year and a half stands out the ...
More
Artist's concept of the Cassini spacecreaft and a montage of images from near Saturn
Cassini Photo Contest II
This false-color image of Saturn was constructed by combining three images at three different infrared wavelengths. The image at the upper left was taken at 1.3 microns, where both Saturn and its ...
More
False-color image of Saturn
Saturn's Kaleidoscope of Color
Twenty-eight years before Cassini-Huygens arrived at Saturn, artist Ken Hodges painted this vision of a possible mission to explore Saturn and the giant moon Titan for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laborat...
More
Painting of spacecraft and lander exploring Saturn and Titan.
Titan Saturn Mission Artwork (1976)
Using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists have created the first global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan, giving researchers a 3-D tool for learning more about one of the most Ear...
More
A global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan
Global Topographic Map of Titan
On Nov. 9, 2006, Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer captured its first view of the infrared heat radiation emanating from the "tiger stripe" fractures at the south pole of Saturn's moon Ence...
More
Two views of Enceladus shoing the location of warmer areas
Enceladus Keeps the Home Fires Burning
Logo for "Backstage Pass to Iapetus" movie
More
Backstage Pass to Iapetus
Backstage Pass to Iapetus
This temperature map of Saturn's moon Iapetus is constructed from observations of Iapetus's infrared heat radiation taken with the Cassini composite infrared spectrometer instrument during the Dec....
More
Grid showing Iapetus temperatures in various colors.
Iapetus Temperature Map
This graphic shows the trajectory for the Cassini spacecraft during its flyby of the icy moon Enceladus on Aug. 11, 2008. At closet approach Cassini will be 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the surfac...
More
Graphic showing the trajectory for the Cassini spacecraft during its flyby of the icy moon Enceladus on Aug. 11, 2008.
Enceladus Flyby Trajectory – Aug. 11, 2008
During the July 14, 2005, flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus, Cassini's ultraviolet imaging spectrograph made the first direct detection of an atmosphere, first suggested by Cassini magnetometer meas...
More
This graphic shows the effects on Enceladus's atmosphere as the icy moon crossed in front of the star Gamma Orionis.
Enceladus Atmosphere -- Star Struck

You Might Also Like