        APOD: 2017 September 26 - Cassinis Last Ring Portrait at Saturn

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                              2017 September 26
                                      [2]
                    Cassini's Last Ring Portrait at Saturn
    Image Credit: NASA [3] , JPL-Caltech [4] , Space Science Institute [5] ,
                          Mindaugas Macijauskas [6]

Explanation: How should Cassini say farewell to Saturn? Three days before
plunging into Saturn [7] 's sunny side, the robotic Cassini spacecraft [8]
swooped far behind [9]  Saturn's night side with cameras blazing. Thirty-six
of these images have been merged -- by an alert and adept citizen scientist
[10]  -- into a last full-ring portrait of Cassini's home planet for the past
13 [11]  years. The Sun [12] is just above the frame, causing Saturn to cast a
dark shadow [13]  onto its enormous rings. This shadow position cannot be
imaged from Earth [14] and will not be visible again until another
Earth-launched spaceship visits the ringed giant. Data and images [15]  from
Cassini's mission-ending dive [16]  into Saturn's atmosphere [17]  on
September 15 continue to be analyzed.

                Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator [18]
                   Tomorrow's picture: coronal matchup [19]

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [31] (MTU [32] ) & Jerry Bonnell [33]
                                  (UMCP [34] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [35] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [36]
              A service of: ASD [37]  at NASA [38]  / GSFC [39]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [40]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1709/LastRingPortrait_Cassini_4472.jpg
  [3] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [4] http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
  [5] http://www.spacescience.org/index.php
  [6] https://plus.google.com/+MindaugasMacijauskas
  [7]
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2017/
0915-cassini-the-dying-of-the-light.html
  [8] https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/the-journey/the-spacecraft/
  [9] ap170125.html
  [10] https://science.nasa.gov/citizenscientists
  [11] ap971016.html
  [12] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/sun
  [13]
http://cdn.lifebuzz.com/images/75590/
lifebuzz-f5dc3bee1213ccbe526a9f3fb3125710-limit_2000.jpg
  [14] ap160925.html
  [15]
https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/galleries/
raw-images?order=earth_date+desc&per_page=50&page=0
  [16] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrGAQCq9BMU
  [17] ap170916.html
  [18] https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/random_apod.html
  [19] ap170927.html
  [20] ap170925.html
  [21] archivepix.html
  [22] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [23] lib/aptree.html
  [24] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [25] calendar/allyears.html
  [26] /apod.rss
  [27] lib/edlinks.html
  [28] lib/about_apod.html
  [29] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=170926
  [30] ap170927.html
  [31] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [32] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [33] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [34] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [35] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [36] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [37] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [38] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [39] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [40] http://www.mtu.edu/
