Cassini spacecraft to make final flyby of Dione on Monday

Cassini’s flyby is scheduled for approximately 2:33 PM Eastern today, however it will take a few days for the images it captures to reach Earth. Using Cassini’s Composite Infrared Spectrometer instrument will also map the regions on the icy moon that have temperature spikes where heat is also trapped.

The flyby ought to be a boon to scientists, who’re hoping gravity-science knowledge will enhance their information of the moon’s inner construction and permit comparisons to Saturn’s different moons. Cassini’s sharp views revealed the brilliant options to be a system of braided canyons with brilliant partitions.

Cassini scientists have a bevy of investigations planned for Dione.

And the study shows that Dione is icy and cold and certainly not as active as Saturn’s other moon Enceladus, which they have already studied.

Bonnie Buratti, a Cassini science team member, explains why they want this data. Rhea (949 miles across) is bigger than Dione (698 miles across), but Dione appears larger because it is much closer to Cassini at the time the images were captured.

“Dione has been an enigma, giving hints of lively geologic processes, together with a transient environment and proof of ice volcanoes”. The fifth flyby of Dione will be our last chance. But, they never discovered the smoking gun as the spacecraft’s fifth flyby will be their last chance.

Cassini has been orbiting Saturn and its moons since 2004.

To date, Cassini has been in orbit around Saturn for more than a decade now, where a series of close moon flybys were conducted this year before Cassini’s final stage of its mission where it will now depart Saturn’s equatorial plane. It’s final year will be marked by repeatedly diving between the gas giant and its breathtaking rings before crashing into Saturn’s atmosphere in 2017.

The world was mesmerized when New Horizons sent back the first gorgeous images of Pluto’s surface after the historic flyby on July 14, but unfortunately, NASA has not released a video.

“This can be our final probability to see Dione up shut for a few years to return”, stated Scott Edgington, Cassini mission deputy undertaking scientist at JPL. “Cassini has provided insights into this icy moon’s mysteries, along with a rich data set and host of new questions for scientists to ponder”.