Cassini's Final Flyby of Dione

The Cassini spacecraft has been bringing us gorgeous pictures of Saturn and its moons for over a decade. I have written about this mission many times before, find some posts here and here. Because Cassini is going to run out of fuel sometime in 2017, mission scientists have already planned the spacecraft's last close flybys of some of Saturn's moons. Cassini just completed its final flyby of Dione, and the images are striking. Unless otherwise noted, all the below images are credited to NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI.

This view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft looks toward Saturn's icy moon Dione, with giant Saturn and its rings in the background, just prior to the mission's final close approach to the moon on August 17, 2015

At lower right is the large, multi-ringed impact basin named Evander, which is about 220 miles wide. The canyons of Padua Chasma, features that form part of Dione's bright, wispy terrain, reach into the darkness at left. 

As Cassini soared above high northern latitudes on Saturn's moon Dione, the spacecraft looked down at a region near the day-night boundary. The features in shadow are illuminated by reflected light from Saturn - Saturnshine. Inset just above center is a higher resolution view - one of the mission's highest-resolution views of the Saturnian moon's icy surface.
 

Cassini captured an oblique view of Dione's heavily cratered landscape.

 

A striking image of Dione hanging in front of Saturn's rings. 

Dione against a backdrop of Saturn's atmosphere. Notice the thin line of Saturn's rings behind the moon, and the shadow of those rings below.

A departing view of Dione.

Cassini will not make another close approach to this beautiful icy moon. It has taken some stupendous shots over the years though. 

Dione against colorful Saturn. Image taken in 2005.

Dione and Rings. Image taken earlier in 2015.

 

Towering cliffs dominate Dione's trailing hemisphere. The cliffs and chasms are possibly caused by tidal stresses over time. Image taken earlier in 2015.

Dione is smaller than Earth's Moon, and is Saturn's fourth largest. It is made of water ice and rock. It's leading hemisphere is heavily cratered, and it's trailing hemisphere is less cratered and marked by bright ice cliffs, originally characterized as "wispy terrain" by Voyager scientists, until Cassini close up images revealed their true nature.

Image Credit: Wikipedia Commons.

You can see Saturn in the evening sky easily this summer. Just look to the south to southwest after sunset for a bright star-like object. See chart below and read this post on how to find it near Scorpius. 

Saturn in the southwest shortly after sunset. Image Credit: Me and Stellarium

Good luck finding Saturn in the night sky. Remember, you can always learn what's up in the night sky by visiting the Dome Planetarium at the Peoria Riverfront Museum.