NASA releases images of Saturn from Cassini probe’s new close orbit

NASA has released the Cassini spacecraft’s first pictures from its new orbit above Saturn.

The most prominent feature in the new photos is the hexagon-shaped storm in Saturn’s northern hemisphere.

Recently, the craft started a new stage of its mission – one which involves a number of dazzling maneuvers over the upcoming nine months. This final mission stage will conclude with Cassini being wrecked in Saturn’s atmosphere, the end of a 12-year mission.

Cassini started several ring-kissing orbits at the end of November. All these week-long orbits were performed to lift the craft high above Saturn’s northern hemisphere before directing it past the outer edges of the planet’s principal rings.

NASA said that it would put out pictures from upcoming passes that provided some of the closest-ever sights of the external rings and small moons that orbit there.

“This is it, the beginning of the end of our historic exploration of Saturn,” Carolyn Porco, the head of Cassini’s imaging team, told BBC News. “Let these images – and those to come – remind you that we’ve lived a bold and daring adventure around the Solar System’s most magnificent planet.”

The catastrophic conclusion planned for Cassini is a result of the probe being virtually exhausted of its fuel. NASA is also concerned about the remote possibility Cassini into will crash into one of Saturn’s moons at some point down the road. Considering the fact that a few of these bodies, like Enceladus, are prospective targets in the hunt for extra-terrestrial life, Cassini could ‘pollute’ these bodies with terrestrial microbes that have stowed away on its body.

Starting in April, Cassini will commence its grand climax, involving 22 dives through the 1,500-mile gap between the planet and its closest ring. The probe will make its last dive, into the atmosphere of Saturn, on September 15.

Cassini, and its lander craft named Huygens, were launched in October 1997 and entered into Saturn orbit in July 2004. On their way to Saturn, the probes performed fly-bys of Earth, Venus and Jupiter. In January 2005, Huygens landed on Titan. It successfully returned data to Earth, using Cassini as a relay.

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Image credit: NASA

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