After an almost two decade long journey into space nasa's Cassini Huygens mission in collaboration
with the ESA finally came to an end in 2017. the spacecraft successfully orbited Saturn and its
moons after launching in 1997 before entering into the planet's atmosphere one final time
and is now forever immortalized by becoming a part of Saturn itself the mission proved to be the key
factor in our exploration of the saturnian system and has answered some key questions
we've had about the planet for years all while offering stunning views of our giant neighbor
welcome the fact nominal and in today's video we will take a close look at some of the most
amazing images NASA's Cassini spacecraft has been able to capture of the large ringed planet Saturn
the collaborative efforts of nasa the European space agency and the Italian space agency gave
birth to one of the most successful exploratory missions the Cassini-Huygens mission after
initially being launched in 1997 the spacecraft took seven years to actually reach Saturn its
prime target of exploration on October 21 2002 the first ever color composite image of the planet was
taken by the spacecraft at the time the Cassini Huygens was 20 months and 177 million miles away
from Saturn to put that into perspective that's almost about twice the distance between the sun
and the earth it was a lengthy painstaking process for the spacecraft to maneuver around the giant
ringed planet in an attempt to get closer and it was only in 2004 that it was able to provide
another closer image displaying Saturn and its large rings in all its glory after that point
the spacecraft began closely photographing and exploring Saturn and its moons making it
the last image that the spacecraft was able to capture the entire planet and its ring system
the Cassini-Huygens mission was able to get up close and personal with Saturn like never before
offering us the opportunity to experience its beauty first hand after years of being more
of an enigma in the sky the ringed planet was finally unveiled and along with its ridiculously
large number of moons in the image captured by the spacecraft the planet's two tiny moons were seen
in orbit Rhea and Dion seem to be posing with their parent planet for this breathtaking image
the two moons are the second and fourth largest of all the moons respectively but in comparison to
the planet they are almost dwarfed by Saturn's the shadow of the moon tethys is also visible close
to the bottom of the planet another image shows Saturn's largest moon titan which happens to be
about 3 200 miles across and still manages to look small and pea-sized in comparison to the planet
prometheus which is only 53 miles wide can also be seen above the rings
in the image captured by Cassini's wide-angle camera on January 5th, 2012.
one of the highlights of the Cassini mission was all of the information it was able to collect
about Saturn's fascinating satellite Enceladus it was the images captured by the spacecraft that
actually gave scientists the strong evidence that the moon possesses a worldwide liquid
water ocean underneath its shell somewhere 30 to 40 kilometers below the surface
the images taken show the plumes of liquid water spewing out into space through the cracks of the
surface according to the scientists they found at least 101 different sites where geysers
would regularly erupt Cassini also discovered the presence of hydrogen in the plumes which could be
hinting that there are hydrothermal vents in the ocean which some scientists believe could create
a favorable place for life to exist Cassini scientist hunter white said in an interview
i would be surprised if we didn't find life on Enceladus but i would be happy to find the
answer one way or the other because i think both of them whether you find it or not will
lead to a better understanding of how life arose on earth and what it really means Enceladus has
been in the spotlight ever since and new probes are being developed to find out more about it
Saturn is known as the ringed planet and for good reason it has the most extensive ring system in
our solar system and the Cassini spacecraft was able to capture a stunning image to show just that
from afar the rings may appear smooth and perfect but up close it has many imperfections
or spokes haps and smudges that stick out radially somewhat like spokes in a bike wheel
this image is the highest resolution color image of any part of Saturn's rings and gives
us a good idea of just how impressive they are the picture was created using two photos taken
by the spacecraft and showcases the inner central part of the planet's b ring while Saturn's rings
may look static when viewed from a telescope up close they are a constantly moving sea of ice
rock and dust particles each one in its own orbit around Saturn like a tiny moon the rings move at
varying speeds as the inner rings move faster than the out according to nasa it still remains unclear
what exactly causes the variable brightness of the ringlets and bands either due to the
way the particles are all densely packed or the brighter particles own shadow being cast are the
two possible reasons the inner parts of the rings move around Saturn faster than the outer parts all
in accordance with Kepler's third law for small moving objects revolving around a massive large
one they orbit the planet with periods ranging from 5.8 hours for the inner edge of the c-ring
to 14.3 hours for the outer edge of the more distant a-ring along with that Cassini was also
able to observe evidence of collisions in Saturn's rings from meteoroids and other celestial bodies
through the pictures that show the sort of ripple effect the crash had on the rings
over the years Cassini began a series of maneuvers that allowed it to zoom in between Saturn and its
innermost rings the data from these maneuvers was instrumental in Cassini's final descent
speaking of critical descents landing on titan was another first of this miraculous mission
titan is the largest moon in the ringed planet solar system but also happens to be the second
largest natural satellite in our solar system the Huygens probe made history when it was able
to successfully land on the surface of titan and capture breathtaking images of the ice giant up
close this was the first probe to land on a body in the outer solar system and the furthest from
earth the first image taken shows the closest colored picture of the moon's surface that you
could possibly get the initial raw images showed short stubby drainage-like channels
leading to what seemed to be a shoreline there it captured evidence of dry lakes
riverbeds and mysterious methane and in the fisheye view of titan you can get a clear
idea of what the textured surface looks like just like jupiter's great red spot scientists have been
fascinated with a hexagonal-shaped jet stream better known as the hexagon that can be seen
at the planet's north pole the view captured from above the planet offers a rare insight
into one of the planet's most intriguing features voyager had first gathered data about the
storm but it was only until the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft was able to get a close look that it
really confirmed its existence the probe was also able to capture images of two huge storms on the
planet's north pole which resemble huge hurricanes much like the ones we have here on planet earth
based on the images and the observations from NASA's Cassini scientists suggest that
the hexagonal pattern continues to persist in the cloud tops because there is a shallow jet stream
in the region that happens to be supported by winds that aren't too far underneath
from a distance of about seven hundred thousand miles above the planet's surface
Cassini captured the multi-hued bands of swirling clouds in Saturn's northern hemisphere
with the help of its wide-angle camera the swirl seems subtle but it showcases the beauty and
lovely atmosphere of the planet it shines at low angles along the boundary and in certain places
highlighting vertical structure in the clouds that almost seems to separate the night from day the
image captured the almost enchanting watercolor like swirls that can be seen all throughout the
planet's atmosphere from a distance of course these bands represent the air flowing at different
pewds and clouds and varying heights and the point where the bands meet and flow past each other
creates the dreamy swirls which proves that Saturn is nothing less than a work of art
the Cassini-Huygens mission was a huge success for more reasons than one
we can accredit most of the data and knowledge we have about Saturn and its moons thanks to this
ambitious mission so what do you think should we head back to Enceladus or should we focus
on our efforts somewhere else let us know in the comments don't forget to smash that like button
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