NASA's Cassini spacecraft has sent back some of the most breathtaking images of Saturn in its final phase, marking the end of a mission that has provided unparalleled insights into the gas giant and ...

A year after Cassini ended its 20-year mission to study Saturn, the last data the spacecraft recorded before plunging into the planet's atmosphere are revealing its long-held secrets.

When Cassini sank into Saturn's upper atmosphere, it was the closest a spacecraft had ever been to the planet. The last few seconds of the Cassini mission provided the "first taste" of the ...

Cassini will have the best views ever of Saturn's poles, as it skims its surface. Near mission's end, Spilker said, "we're actually going to dip our toe" into Saturn's atmosphere, sending back ...

These bulky hydrocarbons, whiffed by the Huygens probe that Cassini dropped on the moon in 2005, eventually settle out of the atmosphere and coat the ground, like a veneer of soot.

Cassini did see water in the atmosphere of Saturn as it zipped past, but it was the other molecules that grabbed everyone's attention. Saturn's shadow stretched beyond the edge of its rings.

Cassini will enter Saturn’s atmosphere approximately one minute earlier, at an altitude of about 1,190 miles (1,915 kilometers) above the planet’s estimated cloud tops (the altitude where the ...

As a result, the entire region oscillates like a wave. A “snapshot” of the hot-cold temperature patterns in Saturn’s atmosphere was captured by the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer.

But it might have a solid core. Saturn's atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen and helium Saturn has 53 known moons, with an additional 29 moons awaiting confirmation. That's a total of 82 moons.

Cassini witnessed three seasons play out in Saturn's northern hemisphere before the probe's intentional death plunge into the gas giant's atmosphere in September 2017: spring, summer and winter ...

Cassini has only three orbits left in its 20-year-long journey, the next of which starts today. On its final dive on September 15th, it’ll plunge itself into Saturn’s atmosphere with its ...

NASA's Cassini probe has been studying Saturn and its moons since 2005, and it's almost time for the spacecraft to call it a day.