unknown node

Saturn’s infamous rings have always made it stand out in the cosmos, but newly released images from NASA show an incredibly detailed view of the icy bands as they haven’t been seen before.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has entered its “Ring-Grazing” orbits phase, which has allowed it to capture the closest-ever images of the outer parts of Saturn’s main rings, according to a release from the space agency. 

The spacecraft came close to the rings when it arrived at Saturn, but the image quality was not as high as these new views and showed only the backlit side of the rings. In addition to being much clearer, these new images show both the backlit and sunlit side of the rings. 

"As the person who planned those initial orbit-insertion ring images, which remained our most detailed views of the rings for the past 13 years, I am taken aback by how vastly improved are the details in this new collection," Cassini Imaging Team Lead Carolyn Porco said in the release. "How fitting it is that we should go out with the best views of Saturn's rings we've ever collected."

(MORE: Saturn's Icy Moon Tethys Looks a Lot Like the Death Star)

"These close views represent the opening of an entirely new window onto Saturn’s rings, and over the next few months we look forward to even more exciting data as we train our cameras on other parts of the rings closer to the planet," said Cassini scientist Matthew Tiscareno. 

After a 20-year run, Cassini’s mission will come to an end in September, closing with a violent crash onto the Ringed Planet’s surface, according to a previous report.

Currently the spacecraft is about halfway through its mission to orbit the planet 20 times, according to NASA. The ring-grazing orbits began last November and will continue through late April as Cassini begins its grand finale. 

Until its crash landing, Cassini will continue to shoot past the outer edges of Saturn’s rings, gathering images of them and the planet’s moons.  

unknown node