joanna. Cassini launched in 1997 and entered orbit around Saturn in 2004. The Huygens Gap is the widest black swath near the middle of the. The Grand Finale orbits appear as Saturn flybys in 2017. After completing its primary mission, Cassini was repurposed to study Jupiter and its moons. The 80 millisecond exposure was taken through a spectral filter centered at 0. NASA is now studying the best way to do that. This map of the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus illustrates the regions that will be imaged by NASA's Cassini spacecraft's second very close flyby on March 9, 2005. The Flagship-class robotic spacecraft. NASA drone will soar over Saturn's largest moon Astronomers have produced geological maps for a variety of other moons and planets, including our Moon, Mars and Mercury. This renewed weather activity, considered overdue by researchers, could finally signal the onset of summer storms that atmospheric models have long predicted. 2004 June 30. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. 1. 15), Cassini will complete the orbital pirouettes of its seven-year Solstice Mission and complete a self-destructing descent into Saturn's atmosphere. From 1671 to 1674, Giovanni Cassini discovered the moons lapetus, Rhea,. 15, 1997, a rocket launched the Cassini orbiter and the Huygens moon lander into space where, in 2004, the two separated for their. S. Apr 24, 2017. Jupiter True Color Texture Map 8k - Cassini 2000. 24 in U. Phoebe: Comet Moon of Saturn. preston. Solar System Exploration Our Galactic Neighborhood. Cassini Rocket Launch. S. This narrow angle image taken by Cassini's camera system of Earth's moon is one of the best of a sequence of narrow angle frames taken as the spacecraft passed by the Moon on the way to its closest approach with Earth on August 17, 1999. In 1955, Easley began her career at NASA, then the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), as a human computer performing complex mathematical calculations. 15, 2017, scientists are already dreaming of going back for further study. Cassini will approach on Jupiter's sunlit side, then move away on the dark side of the planet. Orientation is maintained through the use of either three reaction wheel assemblies. Researchers studying data from NASA's Cassini mission have observed that Saturn's largest moon, Titan, behaves much like Venus, Mars or a comet when exposed to the raw power of the solar wind. 7 billion to 4. Cassini’s cameras were able to pierce Titan’s smoggy. The Cassini Orbiter's mission consists of delivering a probe (called Huygens, provided by ESA) to Titan, and then remaining in orbit around Saturn for detailed studies of the planet and its rings and. 5 billion kilometers) away. menu close modal Missions CassiniINMS was designed to sample the upper atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. This graphic summarizes Cassini's 13 years orbiting Saturn, with moon flybys grouped into columns for each phase of the mission. Our scientists and far-ranging robots explore the wild frontiers of our solar system. EDT). The orbit's shape is significant, as it indicates the type of interaction the moon has with the ring material surrounding it. S. PDT on Wednesday, flight controllers received confirmation that Cassini had completed the engine burn needed to place the spacecraft into the correct orbit. This last hurrah, the 127th time Cassini. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. "Fly me to the moon" -- to Saturn's moon Titan, that is. The resolution is about 144 kilometers. time zones), and orbited the planet, studying its famous rings and family of intriguing moons. › Full image and caption. Cassini's exploration of Saturn spans decades. 7 metres (22 feet) long and 4 metres (13 feet) wide. ENTER Connect. First landing in the outer solar system. “This is the final chapter of an amazing mission, but it’s also a new beginning,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator. Dive deep into the journey with this interactive timeline. To match this (and in fact slightly oversampling the data) the original Cassini map had a size of 7560x3780 pixels. "Fly me to the moon" -- to Saturn's moon Titan, that is. The Cassini mission was a cooperative effort between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. Since then, the two-story spacecraft has revealed that. After 20 years in space — 13 of those years. "The hazy moon may hold clues to how the primitive Earth evolved into a life-bearing planet," he said. Cassini has found Titan's upper atmosphere to consist of a surprising number of layers of haze, as shown in this ultraviolet image of Titan's night side limb, colorized to look like true color. Titan is an interesting moon because. Titan's dense atmosphere is opaque at most wavelengths, but the spacecraft captured some surface details, including a possible crater, through wavelengths in which the atmosphere is clear. This indicates that water is widely distributed across the lunar surface. Scientists believe the geysers could. In 1675, Cassini discovered that Saturn's rings are separated into two parts by a gap. One AU is the distance from Earth to the Sun. Cassini Provides Virtual Flyover of Saturn's. preston. The moon remained missing for decades until, with a significantly upgraded telescope, Cassini finally saw it, a full two magnitudes fainter than it appears on Saturn’s western side, in 1705. Web Pages for accessing Cassini data: Earthlings bid farewell to the Cassini spacecraft tonight as the Saturn-bound mission successfully completed a highly accurate pass of Earth at 8:28 p. On September 11, at 12:04 p. nasa. The choices include Saturn's moons Rhea and Enceladus, and a region of Saturn's rings that includes the tiny moon Pan. After 20 years in space — 13 of those years. Solar System Exploration Our Galactic Neighborhood. NASA's science, technology and mission management office for the exploration of exoplanets. m. Cassini will fly by Saturn's largest outer moon, Phoebe, on Friday, June 11. Other articles where Cassini is discussed: Cassini-Huygens:. The spacecraft burned up in a patch of Saturn sky at 9. But Cassini mapped Titan’s surface, studied its atmospheric reactions, discovered liquid seas there and even sent a probe to the moon’s surface, completely […] Navigation Key Points Cassini left Earth with less than one-thirtieth the propellant needed for all of the trajectory changes it would eventually make, but the navigation team used flybys of Saturn’s moon Titan to change trajectory. m. Nasa scientists are preparing to kill off the Cassini space probe with a spectacular suicidal dive into Saturn’s atmosphere on Friday. NASA's Cassini spacecraft used a special spectral filter to peer through the hazy atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan and see its strange methane lakes. ASI is providing Cassini's sophisticated telecommunications. April 6, 2005. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft swung high above Saturn to reveal this stately view of the golden-hued planet and its main rings. Iapetus is a world of sharp contrasts. The Cassini spacecraft looks between Saturn's A and B rings to spy structure in the Cassini Division. The National Aeronautics and Space. The multi-dimensional maps created by Euclid – which will include depth and time in addition to the height and width of the sky – will inform a complementary mission already in development by NASA, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Kuiper made the discovery by passing sunlight reflected. Image Article. Cassini: About the Mission. The Cassini mission is targeted for an Oct. M. This list of icy satellite flybys includes three additional close encounters (Phoebe, Helene and Epimetheus) not included in. Sept. m. Guidance, Navigation, and Control Technology Assessment for Future Planetary Science Missions: Part I. 25, 1671. NASA Planetary Science Highlights: 2021. Temperature Map of Pele, Io Full Resolution: TIFF (1. NASA scientists and officials gathered at California’s Jet Propulsion. Cassini completed its four-year. At closet approach Cassini will be 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the surface, while flying through the plume Cassini's altitude will be 200 kilometers (120) miles from the moon. 6 billion kilometers) — roughly equal to the distance from Earth to Saturn — and yet the spacecraft was now so close to Earth that it was visible at night. </p>We have some ideas about where the rings might have come from, and Cassini has shown us a lot of detail in the structure of the rings: spokes, gravity waves, shepherding moons, and so on. Galileo and Cassini Image Two Giant Plumes on Io Full Resolution:. The NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini-Huygens mission has directly sampled the water plumes jetting into space from Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Orbit Guide. The $3. Cassini Flies By Walnut-Shaped Moon Iapetus September 11, 2007 (Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory) One of the first images of Iapetus returned by Cassini during the Sept. 28, when it flies through the moon's plume of icy spray. Lessons All About Saturn Explore our collection of standards-aligned lessons about NASA's Cassini mission. Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI. Researchers saw a large amount of squeezing and stretching as the moon orbited Saturn. It measures 6. mccartney@jpl. NASANASA recently announced that - for the first time - we’ve confirmed the water molecule, H 2 O, in sunlit areas of the Moon. On 14 January 2005, at 13:34 CET (12:34 UTC), ESA's Huygens probe entered the history books by descending to the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. The flyby gave Cassini a 5. NASA's Cassini spacecraft will zip past Saturn's moon Dione on Monday, Aug. Our scientists and far-ranging robots explore the wild. While Cassini remains at a respectful distance to avoid the planet's hazardous radiation belts, Galileo will loop around Jupiter on a highly elliptical (egg-shaped) orbit, passing close to Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, on 29 December. Skip Navigation. It provided a detailed study. Cassini is the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever constructed by NASA. Cassini revealed Saturn and its moons in stunning detail, but its observations of the moon Enceladus are potential game-changers in the hunt for life. Scientists have created the first global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan, giving researchers a valuable tool for learning more about one of the most Earth-like and interesting worlds in the solar system. "This is it, the beginning of the end of our. The mission is scheduled to end in September 2017. "The Cassini operations team did an absolutely stellar job guiding the spacecraft to its noble end," said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager at JPL. Kepler-22b is a “super-Earth,” about 2. When the Cassini spacecraft launched in 1997, NASA had one main goal in mind: to map the surface of Saturn’s moon, Titan. The spacecraft fired its main engine for 9. NASA/ESA/W. Many lessons learned during Cassini's mission are being applied to planning NASA's Europa Clipper mission, planned for launch in the 2020s. Download. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. Cassini's narrow-angle camera recorded this view on April 15, 2013. Apollo 12 commander Charles Conrad Jr. Data from Cassini and Huygens may offer clues. PST (12:49 p. 11 June 2004 – Cassini flew by the moon Phoebe at 19:33 UT in Spacecraft Event Time at 2068 kilometers distance. Complete transcript available. Experience InSight. Welcome to NASA's Eyes, a way for you to learn about your home planet, our solar system, the universe beyond and the spacecraft exploring them. NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility sits at the summit of Maunakea in Hawaii. One of the pinnacles of that has been the. Cassini’s closest approach, within 295 miles (474 kilometers) of Dione's surface, will occur at 11:33 a. Cassini carried a passenger to the Saturn system, the European Huygens probe—the first human-made object to land on a world in the distant outer solar system. As NASA's Cassini soared above high northern latitudes on Saturn's moon Dione, the spacecraft looked down at a region near the day-night boundary. The findings indicate that Saturn's rings formed between 10 million and 100 million years ago. This article provides a timeline of the Cassini–Huygens mission. The next close flyby of Iapetus is not until 2007. In fact, the rings may have formed much later than the planet itself, according to a new analysis of gravity science data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Estimated Earth Received Time (ERT) was 5:09 a. The Huygens probe was attached to Cassini. 8, 2017. Here are 10 reasons why Cassini mattered. 1 / 10. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European and Italian Space Agencies. Data from the Cassini spacecraft have led to discoveries that include water ice and vapor geysers in the south polar region of the small moon Enceladus; an active hydrocarbon hydrological cycle (including liquid methane/ethane lakes, dendritic channels, dunes, clouds, and possible precipitation) on Titan; verification of the continued existence. This begins a four-year study of the giant planet, its majestic rings and 31 known moons. Giovanni [a] Domenico Cassini, also known as Jean-Dominique Cassini (8 June 1625 – 14 September 1712) was an Italian (naturalised French) [1] mathematician, astronomer and engineer. -- For the first time, scientists working on NASA's Cassini mission have detected sodium salts in ice grains of Saturn's outermost ring. Cassini ended its mission with an intentional dive into Saturn’s atmosphere on September. Cassini-Huygens was one of the largest interplanetary spacecraft. Cassini-Huygens was a joint NASA/ESA/ASI mission. This is an artist's concept of Saturn's rings and major icy moons. First to sample an extraterrestrial ocean. 1. NASA. The new flyover maps show, for the first time, the 3-D topography and height of the 1,200-meter (4,000-foot) mountain tops, the north polar lake country, the vast dunes more than 100. Kepler-22b is the first planet in a confirmed orbit in a star's habitable zone – the region around a star where liquid water could persist on its surface. brown@nasa. The spacecraft had launched in 1997 bound for Saturn, and spent nearly two years traveling more than a billion miles (1. This list of icy satellite flybys includes three additional close encounters (Phoebe, Helene and Epimetheus) not included in. Images from NASA's Voyager mission fill the gaps in Cassini's coverage. In 2023, Russia, India and the European Space Agency will be launching missions to the Moon, and further into deep space. Pioneer 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2 conducted flybys decades earlier, taking pictures, measurements and observations as they zoomed past. NASA’s Solar System Interactive (also known as the Orrery) is a live look at the solar system, its planets, moons, comets, and asteroids, as well as the real-time locations of dozens of NASA missions. April 14, 2000. However, it was his discovery of the gaps in Saturn’s rings and four of its largest. On Saturday morning, the spacecraft, which has been circling Saturn and its environs for the last 13 years, will skim over the. Oct 01, 1997. Estimates as far out as 2030 had been suggested. Second, eclipses can only happen during eclipse seasons, which last about 34 days and occur. 2015-038. 4 times Earth’s size. This makes Cassini the seventh spacecraft ever to fly through the asteroid. Sep 6, 2023 mov (78. nasa. From 2004 to 2007, Cassini made several flybys of Jupiter, providing new insights into the gas giant’s. For this alignment to happen, two things need to be true. In addition to casting a breathtaking, passing shadow over the heads of millions of people, this total solar eclipse gives scientists a unique opportunity to study the Sun, Earth, and their interactions. 10, 2007. It was 22 feet (6. JoAnna Wendel. Europa orbits Jupiter at about 417,000 miles (671,000 kilometers) from the planet, which itself orbits the Sun at a distance of roughly 500 million miles (780 million kilometers), or 5. Cassini will fly by Saturn's largest outer moon, Phoebe, on Friday, June 11. First Up: Phoebe. These measurement points instantly create a real-time navigation system, delivering to the explorer a 3D “point cloud” or high-resolution map of the surrounding terrain. Cassini then moved on to. m. 23rd December 2022, 04:48 PST. This montage of images, made from data obtained by Cassini’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, shows the location on Saturn where the NASA spacecraft entered Saturn’s atmosphere on. (click to enlarge) Launch Date: 15 October 1997. Above: Beginning of a map of Saturn's rings. The 22ft robot craft is set to be destroyed on Friday. Eastern Daylight Time (0843 Universal Time) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida aboard a Titan IVB/Centaur launch system – the most powerful launch vehicle in the U. 818-354-7013 preston. Cassini–Huygens (/ k ə ˈ s iː n i ˈ h ɔɪ ɡ ən z / kə-SEE-nee HOY-gənz), commonly called Cassini, was a space-research mission by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to send a space probe to study the planet Saturn and its system, including its rings and natural satellites. See full list on theconversation. m. Cassini’s name adorned the mission’s 22-foot-long (6. The Cassini spacecraft, launched in 1997, was designed to study the Saturnian system, including its rings and moons. Cassini is presently orbiting Saturn on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth. Saturn's icy moon Enceladus sinks behind the planet in a farewell portrait from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which destroyed itself by diving. The spacecraft Cassini ended its 20-year mission on Friday with a final death dive into the planet Saturn. October 5, 2000. completed its passage through our solar system's asteroid belt between Mars. Minutes later, the missile came crashing back down and slammed into the ground at more than 340 mph, but the film survived and gave us our first glimpse of Earth from space. time zones) Cassini will release the wok-shaped Huygens probe on its journey toward Titan. In addition, he was the first to record observations of. Cassini-Huygens was one of the most ambitious missions ever launched into space. During its 20-year mission to Saturn, Nasa’s Cassini spacecraft has captured some breathtaking images of the ringed planet and its moons, revealing many unexpected secrets. Arrival at the planet is expected to occur around July 1, 2004. NEWS RELEASE: 2005-041. Annie Easley retired in 1989 after 34 years with NASA. 7 billion miles) thick and that NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft, which are traveling through the heliosheath now, will cross into true interstellar space well before the year 2020. ET as the final messages from Cassini arrive on Earth. In late 2015, Congress directed the agency to add a lander to the Europa-exploration package. All of the eleven onboard instruments operated as expected and all data was acquired. Cassini left Earth with less than one-thirtieth the propellant needed for all of the trajectory changes it would eventually make, but the navigation team used flybys of Saturn’s moon. Saturn's icy moon Dione, with giant Saturn and its rings in the background, was. On Feb. (Click image to see higher-resolution version) NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU. 29. 15, 2017, returning science data to the very end. The mission has been a major success. According to a NASA press release, scientists reviewing data from the agency's Cassini mission, which. Illustration showing Cassini's dive through the plume of Saturn's moon Enceladus, in 2015. When did Cassini launch and why is it ending now? On Oct. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is providing scientists with key clues about Saturn’s moon Titan, and in particular, its hydrocarbon lakes and seas. On its final flyby of Saturn's largest moon in 2017, NASA's Cassini spacecraft gathered radar data revealing that the small liquid lakes in Titan's northern hemisphere are surprisingly deep, perched atop hills and filled with methane. 12, 2011. Nine Ways Cassini-Huygens Mattered. An on-time launch will deliver the Cassini mission to Saturn almost seven years later on July 1, 2004. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) The discovery has implications beyond Enceladus' corner in the solar system. NASA Science Editorial Team. NASA's Cassini spacecraft and Deep Space Network have. 0:31. 9 billion. A global ocean lies beneath the icy crust of Saturn’s geologically active moon Enceladus, according to new research using data from NASA’s Cassini mission. Idaho. 5 billion km at the. From its orbit, the theoretical moon would have contributed to Saturn’s odd tilt. The views were created using 13 years of data acquired by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) instrument on board NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. 4 million miles (2. One of the. EDT). Cassini also detected hints of a faint atmosphere that might have been outgassed from the moon’s. The spacecraft made its closest approach to Titan today at 12:04 p. S. The Huygens probe separated from Cassini in December 2004 and coasted a million miles to Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Cassini will transition to its grand finale orbits, with a last close flyby of Saturn’s giant moon Titan, on Saturday, April 22. From 1671 to 1674, Giovanni Cassini discovered the moons lapetus, Rhea, Dione and Tethys. For example, the Cassini spacecraft weighs about. Christiaan Huygens first observed Saturn's largest moon Titan in 1655 and was the first to describe the extended moon-like features at Saturn as a disk of material sounding the planet. On its recent close flyby of Mimas, the Cassini spacecraft found the Saturnian moon looking battered and bruised, with a surface that may be the most heavily cratered in the Saturn system. Discovery Giovanni Cassini discovered Iapetus on Oct. At 9:12 p. NASA's Cassini spacecraft will make an unprecedented "in your face" flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus on Wed. 2007. And so Cassini has met its end. From the planet outward, they are D, C, B, A, F, G and E. The Paris Observatory's original print of Cassini's 1679 Large map of the Moon was displayed along with two of the drawings by Sébastien Leclerc and Jean Patigny at a. Working in the 1670s, Cassini used a telescope to make careful observations of the moon’s pock-marked surface. , March 12, flying about 15 kilometers per second (32,000 mph) through icy water geyser-like jets. Unsuccessful; flew past Moon. gov. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Cassini orbiter would ultimately circle Saturn 294 times between when it arrived at the gas giant in July. Over 2015 and 2016, Cassini began making its final flybys of Saturn's moons. On April 1, 1960, the TIROS-1 weather satellite. The Cassini Division, occupying the middle and left of the image, contains five dim bands of ring material, but not all of the division is shown in this image. 818-354-7013. This true-color simulated view of Jupiter is composed of 4 images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on December 7, 2000. From our planet's perspective, that means Saturn's rings may have formed during the age of. A key component to life was just discovered to be spewing from one of Saturn's moons. The instruments on board Cassini included radar to map the cloud-covered surface of Titan and a magnetometer to study Saturn’s magnetic field. Part of the Cassini team's job is to pick which image targets will yield the best science results. Cassini's journey began in 1997, and it reached Saturn in 2004. Arizona/Univ. ET. NASA's Cassini spacecraft recently captured images of clouds moving across the northern hydrocarbon seas of Saturn's moon Titan. 10, 2015, Cassini will pass Rhea at about 29,000 miles (47,000 kilometers), but this is not considered a targeted flyby. Visited by Pioneer 11. Now, NASA is preparing to send the drone-like spacecraft Dragonfly to dig further into a world that has become one of the most important targets of exploration. PDT on Wednesday, flight controllers received confirmation that Cassini had completed the engine burn needed to place the spacecraft into the correct orbit. Despite being Saturn's third-largest moon, Iapetus orbits much farther from Saturn than its next closest major satellite (Titan). 2 flyby of Saturn's 'Death Star' moon returned eye-catching images of its most distinctive feature, the spectacular 140-kilometer diameter (87-mile. The ESA Huygens probe was the first to land on a world in the outer Solar System – on the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. - Full video and caption. Dive deep into the journey with this interactive [email protected] is scheduled to make a close flyby of Enceladus on Oct. fleet. News Media Contact. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper, or M3, instrument flew aboard Chandrayaan-1, India's first mission to the moon, and provided the first mineralogical map of the lunar suface. Cassini-Huygens revealed Titan to be one of the most Earth-like worlds we’ve encountered and shed light. NASA. several months as it flies by Jupiter. like," said Dr. Cassini Jupiter. Grand Finale Overview After two decades in space, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft ended its remarkable journey of exploration with a grand finale. This week, we look at 10 aspects of real-life space travel that Clarke predicted, popularized or influenced. Cassini has been exploring Saturn and its moons since 2004. NASA/JPL-Caltech. At closet approach Cassini will be 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the surface, while flying through the plume Cassini's altitude will be 200 kilometers (120) miles from the moon. The estimations fit with current knowledge of the moon – that its polar regions are "lower". Cassini-Huygens was launched onboard a Titan IVB/Centaur and traveled towards Saturn for an in-depth exploration of its system by utilizing S-, X- and Ka-bands. Cassini and ESA’s Huygens probe expanded our understanding of the kinds of worlds where life might exist. 3. The most complex interplanetary mission ever launched is about to meet one of the solar system's enigmatic moons. The Cassini mission to Saturn is one of the most ambitious efforts in planetary space exploration ever mounted. It was the first time Cassini was close enough to create a spectral map of the surface of the innermost moon Pan. Peering through his newly-improved 20-power homemade telescope at the planet Jupiter on Jan. 15, 2017. Exoplanet Exploration Program. First to orbit Saturn. S. S. 24 in U. 10 Things: Dust in the Wind (on Mars and Well Beyond) January 2022: The Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon, or Ice Moon. It has also the most inclined orbital plane of any of the regular. photo from the lunar surface. jccook@jpl. At 9:12 p. C. Cassini will end its 20-year mission on Sept. NASA's Cassini spacecraft has obtained new, detailed images of the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus. Although Titan and Enceladus are the most tantalizing of Saturn's moons, Cassini has revealed strange and marvelous facts about many of the gas giant's 62. It measured the structure of Saturn’s atmosphere and rings, as well as how they interact with the planet’s moons. Contacts: Carolina Martinez (818) 354-9382. The gravitational data from Cassini tells us that this kind of rotation extends down to a depth of about 6,200 miles (10,000 kilometers), indicating that Saturn’s atmosphere is deep, complex. On Dec. NASA's Cassini spacecraft has documented the formation of a small icy object within the rings of Saturn that may be a new moon, and may also provide clues to. The texture is in higher resolution than anything we've seen so far for Jupiter. Cassini, Saturn Moon Photographer. Seven rings of ice and rock particles with 31 known moons. m. Dive deep into the journey with this interactive timeline. 7-year journey to the Saturnian system. How It Works On April 22, Cassini flew within 608 miles (979 km) of Saturn’s giant moon Titan, using the moon’s gravity to place the spacecraft on its path for the ring-gap orbits. This natural color view of Saturn was created by combining six images captured by NASA’s Cassini. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative. ESA's Huygens probe was delivered to Titan by NASA's Cassini. Article. An image of Saturn's moon Enceladus taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. When the Moon is within the umbra, it will turn a reddish hue. New Titan movies and images are providing a bird's-eye view of the moon's Earth-like landscapes. Pop-out player. PDT on June 23. 15, 1997, and spent seven years looping around the solar system before it finally reached its destination. This false-color mosaic shows the entire hemisphere of Iapetus (1,468 kilometers, or 912 miles across) visible from Cassini on the outbound leg of its encounter with the two-toned moon in Sept. CIRS was special because it was sensitive to invisible heat rays, or infrared light, rather than ordinary visible light. Cassini revealed the dramatic truth: Enceladus is an active moon that hides a global ocean of liquid salty water beneath its crust. During this encounter, Cassini will make its deepest-ever dive through the moon's. From a distance, most of the Saturnian moon Dione resembles a bland cueball.