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Saturn’s Rings: NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Preparing To Get A Never-Before-Seen Look

By Brad Faber
Published on: 05:03 PST, Nov 23, 2016

Saturn’s rings are both beautiful and fascinating. First noticed by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in the seventeenth century, the rings of Saturn have long been one of the many mysteries of the solar system, as well as the rest of the universe. The Cassini space probe is now preparing to get a never-before-seen look at Saturn’s rings.

The Cassini-Huygens Mission, which NASA describes is a joint project that includes help from the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, was the first probe to enter Saturn’s orbit. First launched in the fall of 1997, it has been orbiting and studying the gas giant since 2004. Cassini has now entered its final year.

The mission is scheduled to come to an end on September 15, 2017, when it is said that Cassini will descend into Saturn itself. In the meantime, however, there is still work to be done. Cassini has already provided so many interesting details about Saturn and its moons. It appears likely that it will continue doing so right up until to the very end.

In a press release, NASA revealed that on November 30, Cassini would be entering into what is being described as “Ring-Grazing Orbits” in order to further study Saturn’s rings.

In the statement, Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explained the reasoning for the name of this phase of the Cassini mission.

“We’re calling this phase of the mission Cassini’s Ring-Grazing Orbits, because we’ll be skimming past the outer edge of the rings.”

Lyle Tavernier of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory discussed how it is part of the beginning of what will lead to Cassini’s “Grand Finale.” Tavernier further explains how scientists have been working on tweaking the orbit of the spacecraft since early 2016. The gravity of Saturn’s moon Titan plays a major role in the endeavor.

“To prepare for the so-called “ring-grazing orbits,” which will bring the spacecraft within 56,000 miles (90,000 km) of Saturn, Cassini engineers have been slowly adjusting the spacecraft’s orbit since January. They do this by flying Cassini near Saturn’s large moon Titan. The moon’s gravity pulls on the spacecraft, changing its direction and speed.”

Titan is a fascinating place in its own right, and it is the only moon in the solar system that has been found to have a dense, planet-like atmosphere. Though it is not known to exist in the form of water, Titan is also the only place other than Earth that is known to have stable bodies of surface liquid. In NASA’s press release regarding the “Ring-Grazing Orbits,” they described how Cassini had seen Titan’s seas of liquid methane. It is further explained that Cassini has found that Enceladus, another one of Saturn’s more than 60 known moons, harbors a global subsurface ocean.

Tavernier further explains that once Titan lends a big helping hand later this month, Cassini will be positioned closely to the “outer edge” of the main rings. This is an area that Cassini has not yet seen. According to Tavernier, Cassini will be close enough to Saturn that it will travel through the F ring’s “dusty edges.”

Though there are fainter rings that lie further away from Saturn, NASA explains that the F ring is the outermost of Saturn’s main rings. NASA further explains that the “Ring-Grazing Orbits” will present an opportunity to study certain aspects of the planet’s main rings more closely than ever before.

Over roughly the next five months, Cassini will perform a total of 20 flybys through this uncharted territory, according to NASA. According to Jerry Coffey of Universe Today, Saturn’s rings are composed of a combination of “dust, rock, and ice.” For a great number of these flybys, NASA explains that Cassini will be attempting to sample the ring’s “particles,” as well as “faint gases”near the rings.

NASA further explains how this maneuver might allow for a better-than-ever chance to study the moons Pandora, Atlas, Pan, and Daphnis. Tavernier describes these four moons as being small and orbiting nearby the “outer edges” of the rings.

Though many may be sad about Cassini soon nearing an end, it is still far from being over. We should also rejoice in all of its success and be very thankful that it has helped unlock so many mysteries already.

It will be very interesting to see what else Cassini can tell us about Saturn’s rings.

[Featured Image by Steven_Mol/Shutterstock]

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