Skip Navigation

Related

This composite image, which has become a popular poster, shows a global view of Earth at night, compiled from over 400 satellite images
More
Global image of city lights.
Earth at Night
Graphic showing the relative altitudes of Cassini's final five passes through Saturn's upper atmosphere.
More
Graphic showing the relative altitudes of Cassini's final five passes
Cassini's Five Final Passes
+ Version with labels Cassini shot past the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus on Aug. 11, 2008, acquiring a set of seven high-resolution images targeting known jet source locations on the moo...
More
Enceladus
Damascus Sulcus on Enceladus (labeled)
On Oct. 31, 2008, during the second close flyby of Enceladus of the month, the cameras and other optical remote sensing instruments will be front and center, imaging the fractures that slash across...
More
Artist's rendition of the Oct. 31, 2008 Enceladus flyby
Enceladus Flyby - Oct. 31, 2008
This is a computer-rendered image of Cassini during the Saturn Orbit Insertion (SOI) maneuver, just after the main engine has begun firing. The spacecraft is moving out of the plane of the page an...
More
Saturn Orbit Insertion
Saturn Orbit Insertion
While the curtain-like auroras we see at Earth are green at the bottom and red at the top, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has shown us similar curtain-like auroras at Saturn that are red at the bottom a...
More
Saturn's aurora
Saturn's Colorful Aurora (annotated)
Lagrange Points are positions in space where the gravitational forces of a two body system like the Sun and the Earth produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion. These can be used by spac...
More
Illustration showing balance points between Earth and Sun.
What is a Lagrange Point?
This schematic graphic illustrates the bombardments that lead to colorful splotches and bands on the surfaces of several icy moons of Saturn. The arrow indicating the orbital motion of the moon is ...
More
This schematic graphic illustrates the bombardments that lead to colorful splotches and bands on the surfaces of several icy moons of Saturn.
Moons Under Bombardment
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
Presented here is a complete set of cartographic map sheets from a high-resolution Enceladus atlas, a project of the Cassini Imaging Team. The map sheets form a 15-quadrangle series covering the...
More
A complete set of cartographic map sheets from a high-resolution Enceladus
The Enceladus Atlas (2010)
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
This graphic depicts Cassini's interplanetary flight path beginning with launch from Earth on 15 October 1997, followed by gravity assist flybys of Venus (26 April 1998 and 21 June 1999), Earth (18...
More
Illustration of Cassini trajectory to Saturn.
Cassini Trajectory
This figure illustrates the unexpected and bizarre pattern of daytime temperatures found on Saturn's small inner moon Mimas (396 kilometers, or 246 miles, in diameter). 
More
This figure illustrates the bizarre pattern of daytime temperatures found on Mimas
Bizarre Temperatures on Mimas
This illustration shows Cassini above Saturn's northern hemisphere prior to making one of its Grand Finale dives.
More
Illustration of Cassini over Saturn.
Cassini Over the Top (Illustration)
A computer-generated animation that shows the orbits of Cassini from 2004 to 2017 - affectionately called the ball of yarn by the mission.
More
Animated GIF showing Cassini's orbits rotating.
Cassini's Orbits:The Ball of Yarn (GIF)
An artist's concept of the Cassini spacecraft crossing Saturn's ring plane during one of the mission's final orbit.
More
Artist's rendition of Cassini through the rings
Ring Crossing: Cassini Grand Finale (Artist's Concept)
A whimsical mission poster inspired by classic 1960s pop culture art.
More
Comic book style poster of Cassini racing past Saturn.
Cassini Retro Poster: Whoosh!
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
Artwork depicting the second extended mission for Cassini, called the "Solstice Mission."
Cassini Solstice Mission
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
+ Unlabeled version Scientists have discovered a wave pattern, or oscillation, in Saturn's atmosphere only visible from Earth every 15 years. The pattern ripples back and forth like a wave withi...
More
Two different phases of temperature on Saturn
Saturn's Infrared Temperature Snapshot (Labeled)
Engineers too eager to wait for image processing hand-colored this first-ever TV image of Mars in 1964.
More
Hand-colored image of Mars from orbit.
First TV Image of Mars (Hand Colored)
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)
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
MOPITT's monthly average of global concentrations of tropospheric carbon monoxide at an altitude of about 12,000 feet, in April 2000 (left) and April 2014.
More
Map of global carbon monoxide concentrations
Mapping Carbon Monoxide
Eight of Cassini's science instruments are planned to be turned on during the final plunge.
More
Cassini instruments
Instruments On During Cassini's Final Plunge

You Might Also Like

Hundreds of scientists and Mars-exploration enthusiasts will convene just north of Los Angeles later this week to present, discuss and deliberate the future landing site for NASA's next Red Planet rover – Mars 2020.
More
Scientists to Debate Landing Site for Next Mars Rover
Scientists to Debate Landing Site for Next Mars Rover
NASA's Voyager 2 probe, currently on a journey toward interstellar space, has detected an increase in cosmic rays that originate outside our solar system.
More
NASA Voyager 2 Could Be Nearing Interstellar Space
NASA Voyager 2 Could Be Nearing Interstellar Space
Cassini's Grand Finale orbits pay off: Final dives tell the story of the previously unexplored region between Saturn and its rings
More
Groundbreaking Science Emerges from Ultra-Close Orbits of Saturn
Groundbreaking Science Emerges from Ultra-Close Orbits of Saturn
Astronomers have uncovered tantalizing evidence of what could be the first discovery of a moon orbiting a planet outside our solar system.
More
Astronomers Find First Evidence of Possible Moon Outside Our Solar System
Astronomers Find First Evidence of Possible Moon Outside Our Solar System
Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, this week commanded the agency's Curiosity rover to switch to its second computer. The switch will enable engineers to do a detailed diagnosis of a technical issue that has prevented the rover's active computer from storing science and some key engineering data since Sept. 15.
More
Curiosity Rover to Temporarily Switch 'Brains'
Curiosity Rover to Temporarily Switch 'Brains'
A team of researchers have found a distant Kuiper Belt Object with an orbit that supports the theory of a distant, undiscovered large planet on the far edge of our solar system.
More
New Extremely Distant Solar System Object Found During Hunt for Planet X
New Extremely Distant Solar System Object Found During Hunt for Planet X