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Credit & Copyright: Cassini Imaging Team,
ISS,
JPL,
ESA,
NASA,
S. Van Vuuren et al.;
Music: Adagio for Strings (NY Philharmonic)
Explanation:
What would it look like to approach Saturn in a spaceship?
One doesn't have to just imagine -- the
Cassini spacecraft
did just this in 2004, recording thousands of images along the way, and
hundreds of thousands more since entering orbit.
Some of Cassini's early images have been digitally tweaked, cropped, and compiled
into the
featured inspiring video
which is part of a larger developing
IMAX movie project named
Outside In.
In the concluding sequence,
Saturn
looms increasingly large on approach as
cloudy Titan swoops below.
With Saturn
whirling around in the background, Cassini is next depicted flying over
Mimas, with large
Herschel Crater clearly visible.
Saturn's majestic rings then take over the show as Cassini crosses Saturn's
thin ring plane.
Dark shadows of the ring appear on
Saturn itself.
Finally, the enigmatic ice-geyser moon
Enceladus appears in the
distance and then is approached just as the video clip ends.
The Cassini spacecraft itself, low on fuel, is
scheduled to end on Friday when it will be directed to approach so close to
Saturn that it falls in and melts.
Music: Adagio for Strings (NY Philharmonic)
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: cassini spacecraft - Saturn - Saturn rings - Saturn's Moon
Publications with words: cassini spacecraft - Saturn - Saturn rings - Saturn's Moon
See also: