Tag Archives: grazing

In the final year of its epic voyage, on Nov. 30, NASA’s Cassini orbiter will begin a daring set of ‘ring-grazing orbits,’ skimming past the outside edge of Saturn’s main rings. Artist’s concept of NASA’s Cassini spacecraft at Saturn. Image credit: NASA. Launched in 1997, Cassini has been touring the …

On Dec. 4, 2016 at 8:09 a.m. EST (5:09 a.m. PST), NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made its first close dive past the outer edges of Saturn’s rings. This graphic shows the closest approaches of Cassini’s final two orbital phases. Ring-grazing orbits are shown in gray (at left); Grand Finale orbits are …

NASA’s Cassini orbiter has beamed back its first photos of the gas giant Saturn and the planet’s major moons since beginning the so-called ‘ring-grazing’ phase, the latest phase of its mission. This view from Cassini was obtained about half a day before its first close pass by the outer edges …