odd frequency

August212015

Cassini’s Final Breathtaking Close Views of Dione
A pockmarked, icy landscape looms beneath NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in new images of Saturn’s moon Dione taken during the mission’s last close approach to the small, icy world. Two of the new images show the surface of Dione at the best resolution ever.
Cassini passed 295 miles (474 kilometers) above Dione’s surface at 11:33 a.m. PDT (2:33 p.m. EDT) on Aug. 17. This was the fifth close encounter with Dione during Cassini’s long tour at Saturn. The mission’s closest-ever flyby of Dione was in Dec. 2011, at a distance of 60 miles (100 kilometers).
The full set of images released today is available at: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/keywords/flyby
“I am moved, as I know everyone else is, looking at these exquisite images of Dione’s surface and crescent, and knowing that they are the last we will see of this far-off world for a very long time to come,” said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team lead at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado. “Right down to the last, Cassini has faithfully delivered another extraordinary set of riches. How lucky we have been.”
Read more ~ NASA.gov
Top: NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured this parting view showing the rough and icy crescent of Saturn’s moon Dione following the spacecraft’s last close flyby of the moon on Aug. 17, 2015.
   Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Center left: Dione hangs in front of Saturn and its icy rings in this view, captured during Cassini’s final close flyby of the icy moon.
   Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Center middle: Saturn’s moon Dione hangs in front of Saturn’s rings in this view taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft during the inbound leg of its last close flyby of the icy moon.
   Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Center right: As Cassini soared above high northern latitudes on Saturn’s moon Dione, the spacecraft looked down at a region near the day-night boundary. This view shows the region as a contrast-enhanced image in which features in shadow are illuminated by reflected light from Saturn.
   Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Bottom: This view from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft looks toward Saturn’s icy moon Dione, with giant Saturn and its rings in the background, just prior to the mission’s final close approach to the moon on August 17, 2015.
   Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Starting in late 2016, Cassini will zip between Saturn and its innermost ring a total of 22 times in a mission phase now known as the “Cassini Grand Finale,” which will end in September 2017 when the probe intentionally dives into the gas giant’s atmosphere. ~ Space.com
Editor’s note: Carolyn Porco and the rest of us are moved by these final Cassini images of Dione and beyond that, it is sad knowing the end is in sight of a journey that has repeatedly amazed us all with discoveries and incredibly awesome views for over a decade. ~ JN Ph7.5