NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has now successfully completed its 12th ring crossing at Saturn, and is now well past the halfway point of the Grand Finale phase of its mission. Each ring crossing, with now only 10 left, brings Cassini closer to its inevitable end in September, when the spacecraft will plunge into Saturn’s turbulent atmosphere to meet its fiery fate.
Read MoreCassini’s latest dive through Saturn’s rings reveals spectacular detail
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has just successfully completed its tenth ring crossing at Saturn, on June 23, which brings it almost halfway through the Grand Finale – the last phase of the mission, which will end on Sept. 15, 2017. This leaves twelve more ring crosses to go before the end of the mission. There may not be a lot of time left for Cassini, but these last close flybys of Saturn are providing views and data never before possible – a crowning achievement for a mission which has already completely changed our understanding of the giant ringed planet and its moons.
Read MoreGrand Finale part 5: Cassini completes tenth epic ring crossing at Saturn
As Cassini’s “Grand Finale” journey continues, the spacecraft has completed its eighth dive past the innermost rings of Saturn (known as a ring crossing), and there are now just under 100 days left until it plunges into the giant planet’s atmosphere, never to come back. Although time may be running out, Cassini continues to devour every drop of science data that it can, which builds upon other data that has transformed our view of the Saturnian system – a complex array of worlds like a miniature Solar System. This includes, of course, more fantastic images of Saturn and its rings and moons. The detail seen in the rings is nothing short of staggering.
Read MoreGrand Final part 4: Cassini completes eighth ring crossing, and a ‘tour of Saturn’s moons’
Cassini’s “dance” with Saturn’s rings continues – the probe has now completed its second dive into the rings (orbit 272), specifically the gap between the innermost rings and Saturn itself. That leaves 20 more similar dives to go, as part of the Grand Finale phase of Cassini’s mission before the fateful end on Sept. 15. This is the closest that any spacecraft has ever come to Saturn, showing the rings and the planet itself in detail never seen before.
Read MoreGrand Finale part 2: Cassini completes second epic dive into Saturn’s rings
Since the previous post about Cassini’s first dive between Saturn and its rings on April 26, more images have become available. These are the closest-ever images taken of Saturn, showing the north polar region with a huge bluish-coloured storm at the centre of the massive “hexagon” jet stream and many other smaller storms and eddies in the atmosphere. As it dove through the gap, Cassini came within about 3,000 kilometres (1,900 miles) of Saturn’s cloud tops and within about 300 kilometres (200 miles) of the innermost visible edge of the rings. Cassini’s next dive through the gap is scheduled for May 2. See also Sophia Nasr’s (@Pharaoness) beautiful and haunting processed Cassini image taken a couple days later, on April 29.
Read MoreImage Gallery: More closest-ever Cassini images from Saturn
After waiting with bated breath last night, everyone following Cassini’s first-ever dive through the gap between Saturn and its rings let out a collective sigh of relief – the spacecraft made it! This was the first time a probe had ever flown this close to Saturn’s atmosphere and inner rings, and while mission scientists were confident the probe would sail through unharmed, it wasn’t a 100% guarantee, either. But it did, and this is just the first of 22 such dives through this region as part of the “Grand Finale” phase of the mission.
Read MoreCassini sends back spectacular new images from first-ever dive between Saturn and its rings
This week marks another important milestone in the Cassini mission at Saturn – as of today, the spacecraft is conducting the last Ring-Grazing Orbit of its mission as it prepares for the Grand Finale, which will culminate in the death of the probe on Sept. 15. On April 21, Cassini will do its very last close flyby of Saturn’s largest moon Titan. Speaking of Titan, Cassini has also apparently solved a perplexing mystery; the unusual “magic island” formations seen in one of the moon’s methane/ethane seas are now thought to be caused by nitrogen bubbles fizzing periodically on the sea’s surface.