Cassini's Death Dive into Saturn Reveals Weird Ring 'Rain' & Other Surprises

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Space.com


By Meghan Bartels, Space.com Senior Writer | October 4, 2018 02:33pm ET

To distant, Earthling eyes, the gap between Saturn and its rings looks calm, like a deep breath of empty space between one beautifully intricate structure and another. But in 11 new papers, born from the demise of one of NASA's most beloved planetary science missions, scientists destroy that illusion, laying out a set of unexpectedly complicated phenomena dancing through that emptiness.

Those papers, published today in two key science journals, represent the first research to be published with data from the Cassini mission's so-called "Grand Finale," a daring set of orbits during which the spacecraft threaded itself between Saturn and its rings. Taken together, the papers paint a detailed picture of what's happening between the planet's innermost rings and its upper atmosphere — surprising, eye-catching phenomena like a pounding hail of compounds pummeling the planet's equatorial region and an electric current produced merely by the planet's winds and magnetic field.

"We really did think of it as a gap," Linda Spilker, project scientist for the Cassini mission at NASA, told Space.com of the region between Saturn and its rings. The team was optimistic about what Cassini could learn during its demise, but the operation ended up producing what she called "a much richer science return than we had imagined" — she went so far as to compare it to a brand-new mission. [Amazing Saturn Photos from NASA's Cassini Orbiter]

The Cassini spacecraft spent a total of 13 years studying Saturn and its moons. But when it was due to run out of fuel, the scientists behind the mission designed a daring trajectory that would send the spacecraft looping through Saturn's rings before burning up in its atmosphere. That destruction ensured that potentially habitable moons in the system wouldn't catch any Earth germs that might have hitched a ride aboard the spacecraft.

Read more: https://www.space.com/42022-cassini-saturn-finale-ring-rain-surprises.html?utm_source=notification

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(Sorry to put a great Science article in LBN, but this valiant Cassini could only do its death dive once.)

[byronius]

1. Wow.

[JohnnyRingo]

2. Thanx for posting

I love this stuff.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Thank you, J.R., for your post. n/t

[Harker]

3. No apology needed.

I sat in a planetarium and saw live transmissions from Yoyager. I love this stuff.

Thanks!

[JoyBugaloo]

4. Good stuff!!

Thanks for posting!!

[Judi Lynn]

11. Thanks for your post. Great name! n/t

[BobTheSubgenius]

5. I love how often "we" are surprised by the difference between what we expect...

... and what we actually find. Scientific discovery wouldn't be nearly as exciting if results always tallied perfectly with predictions.

Sometimes, though, it goes the other way. Some years ago, I saw Saturn through the 48" auxiliary telescope at the astrophysical site near my home. I had expected to see the planet more or less ffill the field of vision, and be vividly coloured, the way it is depicted.

It was bright white, and planet and rings together were about the diameter of a pencil. Learning the history of the installation itself was far more interesting.

The main telescope was, at one time, the largest in the world. Imagine that, in sleepy little Victoria. and was carried to the site (Observatory Hill - what are the odds, right?) by horse-drawn wagon.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Great post! Thank you. n/t

[StevieM]

6. I look forward to our eventual missions to Saturn's moons, Enceledus and Titan.

They are our best bet for extra-terrestrial life in our solar system IMO.

[turbinetree]

9. I Love Science..................Thanx's for posting

[Judi Lynn]

12. So much to find every single day, turbinetree! Thanks. n/t

[Nitram]

13. Fascinating. Thanks for posting.

[Bayard]

14. To seek out new worlds and new civilizations.....

I also love any space exploration. Hopefully it won't eventually be exploited.

[suffragette]

15. Thanks for posting this Judy. It's a reminder of how much we still must learn and that there are

dedicated and amazing people still working on enriching our knowledge.

That gives me hope.

More important on a day like this one than ever.