Cassini begins it's dives through Saturn's rings [View all]
If all goes to plan, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will beam new images of Saturn and its rings to Earth early Thursday, sharing data collected Wednesday from its first dive through the gap between the planet and its striped belt of ice and rock particles.
Today's dive also marks the start of the final phase in the craft's 13-year visit to Saturn. Days ago, it used the gravity of Saturn's moon Titan to bend its path toward its eventual destruction on the planet.
Cassini descended below the ring plane around 5 a.m. ET Wednesday, but the antenna it would normally use to send images is instead being used to deflect potentially harmful objects away from its instruments. As it performed the move, the craft's Twitter feed announced, "Shields Up!"
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/26/525696238/cassini-spacecraft-starts-weaving-between-saturn-and-its-rings
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