This Article is From Jun 27, 2017

NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Captures Stunning Images of Saturn Rings

NASA's Cassini mission is currently executing a series of daring Saturn's ring-grazing dives as the mission comes closer to the culmination of its epic 20-year-long journey in space.

NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Captures Stunning Images of Saturn Rings

This raw, unprocessed image of Saturn-rings was taken on June 7, 2017 and received on Earth June 8, 2017

Washington: NASA's Cassini spacecraft has beamed back a stunning image that shows a sliver of Saturn's sunlit atmosphere with its icy rings stretched across the foreground as a dark band.

The Cassini mission is currently executing a series of daring ring-grazing dives as the mission comes closer to the culmination of its epic 20-year-long journey in space.

The new image captures the unilluminated side of the rings from about seven degrees below the ring plane.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA tweeted:The image was taken in green light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on March 31.

The view was obtained at a distance of about one million kilometers from Saturn.

After executing 22 dives between the planet's icy rings, the spacecraft will plunge into Saturn's atmosphere. 

The finale orbits bring the spacecraft closer to Saturn than ever before, providing stunning, high-resolution images and new insights into the planet's interior structure and the origins of the rings, NASA said.

During its final plunge into Saturn, Cassini will send data about the atmosphere's composition until its signal is lost.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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