NASA Video Shows Cassini Spacecraft's Saturn Dive

Posted on May 4, 2017

Cassini Saturn Dive image

NASA has released a video showing its Cassini spacecraft taking its successful dive through the gap between Saturn and its rings. The Grand Finale dive took place on April 26, 2017.

Cassini came within 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) of Saturn's cloud tops and about 200 miles (300 kilometers) of the innermost visible edge of the rings.

The video begins with a view of the vortex at Saturn's north pole. It then heads past the outer boundary of Saturns's hexagon-shaped jet stream and continues further southward. Space.com reports that Cassini's shield took few hits during the dive as the gap was "surprisingly empty." It was so empty that it is even being referred to as "The Big Empty."