In 1997, NASA in collaboration with the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, launched a space probe called the Cassini into space to study the planet Saturn and its moons.
Travelling in space for 7 years until entering Saturn’s orbit in 2004, the Huygens probe that had been carried by the Cassini was landed by parachute in 2005 on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, making it the first landing of a man-made object to be accomplished in the outer Solar System.
Continuing its mission, Cassini spent the next 13 years orbiting Saturn where it collected data such as the detailed maps of Saturn’s gravity and magnetic fields. Equipped with particle detectors, Cassini sampled icy ring particles being funnelled into the atmosphere by Saturn’s magnetic field and cameras on board Cassini also took numerous close-up images of Saturn and its moons.
In April 2017, Cassini began its Grand Finale phase where it orbited a total of 22 times between Saturn and its inner rings until on Sept. 15, 2017, the Cassini space probe entered Saturn’s atmosphere to burn and disintegrate. This was done in order to avoid the possibility of contaminating the moons of Saturn.
Thanks to Cassini and the data it had acquired, we now know that lakes of liquid hydrocarbons comprised of mostly methane are present on Titan’s surface, suggesting that it may hosts an ocean of salty water beneath its crust. Cassini also detected geysers of water vapour blasting from the moon Enceladus. Scientists have indicated that the water vapours are coming from a buried ocean that’s likely to contain a source of chemical energy capable of supporting life.
To view all of the images taken by the Cassini space probe, click the link below.
https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/galleries/raw-images?order=earth_date+desc&per_page=50&page=0
To learn more about Cassini, click the link below.
