{"id":14661,"date":"2017-05-03T17:01:50","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T09:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-probe-finds-saturn-ring-gap-emptier-than-predicted\/"},"modified":"2017-05-03T17:01:50","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T09:01:50","slug":"nasa-probe-finds-saturn-ring-gap-emptier-than-predicted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-probe-finds-saturn-ring-gap-emptier-than-predicted\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA probe finds Saturn ring gap emptier than predicted"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
This unprocessed image shows features in Saturn\u2019s atmosphere from closer than ever before. The view of Saturn\u2019s polar vortex was captured by NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft during its first \u201cGrand Finale\u201d dive past the planet on April 26, 2017. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/Space Science Institute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft sped through a gap between Saturn and its rings for the second time Tuesday after data from the probe\u2019s first perilous passage through the unexplored region last week found it to contain fewer potentially hazardous dust particles than expected.<\/p>\n

The finding is one of several results from Cassini\u2019s first trip through the ring gap that has puzzled scientists. Engineers in charge of keeping Cassini safe, on the other hand, are pleased that the space between Saturn and its rings harbors fewer dangers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe region between the rings and Saturn is \u2018the big empty,\u2019 apparently,\u201d said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. \u201cCassini will stay the course, while the scientists work on the mystery of why the dust level is much lower than expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cassini radioed ground controllers April 27 that it safely made the first-ever flight through the 1,500-mile (2,400-kilometer) ring gap, coming closer to Saturn than any spacecraft in history.<\/p>\n

The orbiter used its last flyby of Saturn\u2019s largest moon Titan on April 22 to reshape its path around the planet, plunging Cassini on an orbit that will take it inside the rings once every week until Sept. 15, when it will dive into the ringed world\u2019s hydrogen-helium atmosphere to end the mission.<\/p>\n

Cassini made its second journey inside the rings Tuesday, and mission control at JPL received confirmation from the spacecraft around 1530 GMT (11:30 a.m. EDT) that it survived the encounter.<\/p>\n

\"\"
This image of Saturn\u2019s north polar region was taken April 26 as Cassini approached the planet for its first passage inside the rings. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/Space Science Institute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During last week\u2019s flyby, Cassini turned to use its its 13-foot (4-meter) high-gain dish antenna as a shield to protect the spacecraft\u2019s sensitive components, like computers and scientific instruments, from the bombardment of any microscopic dust grains in its path.<\/p>\n

Scientists crunching data captured last week said the passage produced far fewer dust impacts than predicted.<\/p>\n

Models of the dust environment suggested Cassini would sail through the ring gap unscathed, so officials were not too concerned going into the first flyby. Nevertheless, recordings of the dust strikes were quieter than scientists expected.<\/p>\n

The craft\u2019s radio and plasma wave science instrument detected hundreds of dust hits per second when Cassini was passing just outside Saturn\u2019s rings over the last few months, but only registered a few impacts inside the ring gap.<\/p>\n

Scientists converted the raw radio and plasma wave data into an audio format, NASA said, to listen for debris striking Cassini\u2019s antenna.<\/p>\n

\u201cDust particles hitting the instrument\u2019s antennas sound like pops and cracks, covering up the usual whistles and squeaks of waves in the charged particle environment that the instrument is designed to detect,\u201d NASA said in a press release. \u201cThe RPWS team expected to hear a lot of pops and cracks on crossing the ring plane inside the gap, but instead, the whistles and squeaks came through surprisingly clearly on April 26.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a bit disorienting \u2014 we weren\u2019t hearing what we expected to hear,\u201d said William Kurth, radio and plasma wave science team lead at the University of Iowa. \u201cI\u2019ve listened to our data from the first dive several times and I can probably count on my hands the number of dust particle impacts I hear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cassini made the trip through the ring gap at a relative velocity of about 77,000 mph (124,000 kilometers per hour), fast enough to travel from New York to Los Angeles in less than two minutes.<\/p>\n

The video posted below includes the audio recording from Cassini\u2019s radio and plasma wave science instrument during the April 26 flyby.<\/p>\n