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.

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.

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 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 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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.

Chalk up one more feat for Saturn’s intriguing moon Enceladus. The small, dynamic moon spews out dramatic plumes of water vapor and ice — first seen by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in 2005. It ...

NASA's Cassini spacecraft ended its sojourn at Saturn on Sept. 15, with a plunge in the atmosphere of the ringed planet. The mission began in 1997 when Cassini was launched on a trip to Saturn to ...

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.