The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences nominated NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, for Outstanding Original Interactive Program for its coverage of the Cassini mission's Grand Finale at Saturn, including news, web, education, television and social media efforts. (Faint, outer rings G and E are not imaged here.) NASA Official: Saturn's axial tilt is 26.7°, meaning that widely varying views of the rings, which occupy its equatorial plane, are obtained from Earth at different times. During NASA's Cassini mission's final distant encounter with Saturn's giant moon Titan, the spacecraft captured the enigmatic moon's north polar landscape of lakes and seas, which are filled with liquid methane and ethane. ", 4.9 billion miles traveled since launch (7.9 billion kilometers). Europa Clipper will make dozens of flybys of Jupiter's ocean moon to investigate its possible habitability, using an orbital tour design derived from the way Cassini explored Saturn. Using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists found Titan drifting away from Saturn a hundred times faster than previously understood. The Cassini spacecraft looks between Saturn's A and B rings to spy structure in the Cassini Division. The Cassini Division is a wide, dark band located between Saturn's two most visible rings, in which the particle density is considerably lower than that inside the rings. Cassini was, in a sense, a time machine. Having a plan is an excellent idea, but you also have to be willing to jump at unexpected opportunities. What Cassini found at Saturn prompted scientists to rethink their understanding of the solar system. Amanda Barnett After a series of nearly two dozen nail-biting dives between the planet and its icy rings, Cassini plunged into Saturn’s atmosphere on Sept. 15, 2017, returning science data to the very end. Get the latest updates on NASA missions, watch NASA TV live, and learn about our quest to reveal the unknown and benefit all humankind. The view through the much narrower Encke Division… Cassini represented a staggering achievement of human and technical complexity, finding innovative ways to use the spacecraft. (search for Cassini for all available data), Impact Craters Reveal Details of Titan's Dynamic Surface Weathering, Infrared Eyes on Enceladus: Hints of Fresh Ice in Northern Hemisphere, More about Richard "Rick" Grammier (1955 - 2011), Are Ocean Planets Common? The upper limit to the width of Encke's division implies that the velocity dispersion of the ring particles is <10 -2 cm sec -1 . Cassini-Huygens was a mission of firsts. Europa Clipper will make dozens of flybys of Jupiter's ocean moon to investigate its possible habitability, using an orbital tour design derived from the way Cassini explored Saturn. Cassini has returned thousands of great images. Cassini division [ kə-sē ′nē ] The large gap between Saturn's two most prominent rings (the outer A ring and middle B ring), appearing as a dark void but actually containing small amounts of opaque material. Cassini's Grand Finale orbits pay off: Final dives tell the story of the previously unexplored region between Saturn and its rings. JPL has won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Interactive Program for its coverage of the Cassini mission's Grand Finale at Saturn. D. Cassini. No human had ever seen this landscape before. For more than a decade, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shared the wonders of Saturn and its family of icy moons—taking us to astounding worlds where methane rivers run to a methane sea and where jets of ice and gas are blasting material into space from a liquid water ocean that might harbor the ingredients for life. First to sample an extraterrestrial ocean. First to orbit Saturn. The Cassini division is caused by the pull of one of Saturn's moons called Mimas. 8 Its clarity is an excellent test of atmospheric steadiness and the telescope's optical quality. Cassini revealed the beauty of Saturn, its rings and moons, inspiring our sense of wonder. The 2,980-mile (4,800-kilometre) wide division is … ", "Sometimes you have to tackle a problem from many different ways to understand it and you should never be afraid to ask for help. Titan visible near 10:00 position, north up, mirror reverse image. Bill Dunford. Dr. Alan Smale (Director), within the Cassini-Huygens was a mission of firsts. In 1675, Cassini discovered a narrow gap that splits Saturn's ring system into two parts, and the gap has since been known as the "Cassini Division." After 20 years in space — 13 of those years exploring Saturn — Cassini exhausted its fuel supply. bit around the planet. In addition, he discovered the Cassini Division in the rings of Saturn in 1675. 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