Scientists just got their first sight into the space between Saturn and its rings. And it's pretty magnificent.
On Wednesday, the NASA space probe Cassini made the first of 22 scheduled dives through the rings around the planet.
No human made object had ever attempted so far into those spinning bands of ice and dust particles.
Cassini spacecraft was traveling at speeds of 77,000 m/h through regions dense with possibly destructive particles. It had to use its dish shaped antenna as a guard, stopping any communication with Earth throughout the dive.
All day, scientists’ eagerly waited for confirmation that their courageous little space robot had made it through.
Just before mid-night Pacific Time, the Deep Space Network (a collection of telescopes that communicate with distant things in space) picked up Cassini's outlying signal.
An enormous cheer went up at ground control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/JPL) in Pasadena, California, as data started streaming the billion miles back to Earth. Cassini had made it through the space and travelled carefully on the other side.
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| NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute |
We did it! Cassini is in contact with Earth and sending back data after a successful dive through the gap between Saturn and its rings. pic.twitter.com/cej1yO7T6a
— CassiniSaturn (@CassiniSaturn) April 27, 2017
In September, the Cassini’s last dive will have it dropping straight into Saturn, and the spacecraft will be lost forever. But till then, Cassini's 'grand finale' promises to send some unbelievable images and some mesmerizing science.
The raw pictures from the most recent dive are beingannounced on NASA's website as they stream in. Here's some of what NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft has seen:
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| NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute |
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| NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute |
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| NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute |
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| NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute |