US space agency NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which is on its last journey of Saturn mission, has been doing a great job ever since it has entered the ‘Grand Finale’ and performing some really risky and death-defying dives between the gas giant and its rings.
Cassini has performed two of the total 22 planned dives and has sent really useful data back to the Earth. During its second dive, NASA Cassini probe has captured some stunning pictures of planet Saturn and has beamed them back to Earth.
The latest pictures reveal Saturn’s moon Rhea and Titan and provide great details of the rings of the planet. Cassini captured the pictures at various points and sent them back to NASA on May 3.
Sharp lines formed by dust and debris that surround Saturn have been revealed in the images. Recent evidence showed that life may exist on Saturn following which scientists have been investigating the gas giant.
However, researchers had been dismissing about the chances of life on Saturn for years because of the fact that the sixth planet lack all building blocks necessary to sustain life.
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But Cassini spacecraft has recently provided data which shows that the missing ingredient required for establishing that life may exist on Saturn. That missing ingredient is hydrogen.
The element has been discovered by scientists on one of the moons of Saturn. On May 4, scientists had said that hydrogen could act as “a potential source of chemical energy that could support microbes”.
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On May 9, The Cassini probe will take its final tour, travelling from the northern tip of the planet to the south.
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