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Cassini Grand Finale: Navigating the Gap

Illustration showing close approach to Saturn's atmosphere.

March 24, 2017

This diagram created by Cassini mission planners illustrates the close approaches of the spacecraft during its Grand Finale orbits between Saturn's innermost (D) ring and the giant planet's atmosphere.

Here is a simplified version:

Illustration of Cassini's final orbits between the innermost ring and Saturn's atmosphere.
Mission planners call Cassini's final orbits "proximal" because the spacecraft is in very close proximity to Saturn.

Credit

NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Caltech / Erick Sturm

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