(Photo: SCIEPRO)
The last phase of the mission Cassini – Huygens has already begun, and already we have the first pictures about it. These have been obtained from its new orbit, which begins at the "beginning of the end" of this ship.
The stunning photographs show the pole of Saturn, its vertiginous atmosphere and the curious structure of its ring hex.
In the stage known as "Ring-Grazing Orbits", the Cassini-Huygens mission will zoom like never before to the most famous rings of the gas giant in twenty laps orchestrated for ten months.
After their observations, Cassini will fall downwards towards the planet, broadcasting their latest data as it disappears into the atmosphere of Saturn.
What are we watching? Since the beginning of the last phase of the Cassini-Huygens mission, the probe has collected several images from the north pole of Saturn. These photographs show a curious regular pattern in the atmosphere of the planet, formed by the clouds of its surface area gaseous.
what is it? Saturn is a giant ball of dense gas in which deep inside is a small rocky core surrounded by an immense layer of ice. But far above, the atmospheric forcing of the gas streams strike with violence. This causes huge storms that can be seen from the cameras of the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft.
In particular, the north pole of the planet (and not in its south pole) there is a huge current of air, also called Jet-Stream, which takes on a hexagonal shape whose sides measure approximately 13.800 Km, more than the diameter of the Earth.
This hexagon has at its center a monstrous vortex with a force that we assume immense. Although it may seem strange, the truth is that we have succeeded in reproducing the dynamics capable of forming this type forms in the surface of a fluid mass. That is to say, that this can occur naturally and we know how it happens.
Walking through the rings of Saturn
This last phase of the Cassini-Huygens mission is special in that it brings us closer as never before to the rings of Saturn. These rings are composed by a myriad of rocks and meteorites floating.
The probe will cross up to twenty times these rings. In particular, the ring F, the sixth discovered in the planet, for which he has past from an elliptical orbit around the planet. The next pass will be in about four days, returning to begin the process of orbital.
During these walks, the Cassini-Huygens mission has as its purpose to investigate the most of the composition, structure and emissions of these amazing astronomical objects to "decorate" Saturn. Before ending, the ship also will approach the unexplored space between the planet and the ring D, more internal.
The process of past will end up definitely with the mission, bringing the probe as closely as possible to the atmosphere and letting it fall on the planet. During this process, the ship will try to send the maximum amount of data possible from the atmosphere of Saturn, while rapidly disintegrating in their fall.
The "last" mission of Cassini-Huygens
The Cassini-Huygens mission began with its launch on 15 October 1997. Since then, and after seven years of traveling through space, is orbiting the system formed by Saturn and its natural satellites. The probe, Huygens, carried by the spacecraft, Cassini, reached the surface of Titan in 2005, sending back important data and images on the satellite.
Since then, Cassini carries orbiting alone around the moon, Enceladus and the Saturn, collecting all sorts of data. The grand final of the mission will arrive in April of this next year, but not before they have made the latest contributions on the nature of the system.
This is the detail of the famous hexagon polar of Saturn. NASA.
a Few contributions that could shed more light on the planetary formation of this huge giant. To date, Cassini has managed to show us one of our neighbors more distant as any other instrument in space. He has given us images disturbing and wonderful the gas giant and its rings.
you Have analyzed and carefully observed many types of data on the system. And as a final sacrifice, will travel to the heart of Saturn, sending us all the information you can and while you are able to continue to unravel its mysteries.
original Article here.
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