"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
- "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", Dylan Thomas
A seven year voyage through our solar system brought Cassini into orbit around Saturn, one of the most remarkable and easily identified planets of classical Earth science and literature.
After after two decades in space and countless dives past the planet, it's many belts and moons, Cassini's swan song on September 15 2017 will be to turn its communications dish Earthbound like a last salute as it plunges headlong into the planet, relaying every last sensor reading to us, to the very last, and then, no more...
- The New York Times YT channel
For 13 years Cassini has dived and swooped around Saturn, its rings, and its many strange moons, a fearless and intrepid explorer mapping unknown wonders, bringing back an absolute cornucopia of wealth; from the Huygens probe that marked our first landing on a frigid alien moon whose rivers of methane carve out the landscape, to the wyrd hexagonal mesmerism of Saturn's polar clouds, and even a nod the memory of that venerable champion of human enlightenment Carl Sagan with a Saturn dark side glimpse of a pale blue dot.
"Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Goodbye, Cassini, thanks for all you've done, we salute you;
Do not go gentle into that good night.
So much wonderful imagery, video, and mission data can be found at the JPL pages: https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/
^vote and resteem. Considerable effort has gone into researching, testing, graphics capture/edit, and formatting for this article.
I know it's stupid, but this is so incredibly sad. The video you've posted is magnificent. OMG, how beautiful!! And I have read pieces on this mission off and on for years -- and, in a way, it's like losing a long-distance friend. The idea of turning its communications dish back toward Earth as it falls to its destruction, like a last gift somehow.
More stunning still is the very thought of all the human engineering and talent that went into this. Human beings did this. We should be so proud!! (And think of what miracles we could accomplish if we put ourselves and our talents to projects like, if we spent $$$ like this instead of on weapons to blow up strangers half a world away!! Sad doesn't begin to tell the tale on that one.)
I can't tell you how undervalued this post is ... and how much I want to make more of a difference here than I can. I enjoyed this moment immensely. Thank you so much for posting it. <3
UVd, RSd -- Bravo!
From #theunmentionables
I see you get the heart of it, that makes me very glad. The gulf between what humanity is capable of and what it does nominally is growing too wide.
Have another look at that small, blurry, blue dot as seen from the dark side of Saturn and wave hello to yourself, myself, and everyone else on Earth.
Not stupid at all. Quite remarkable, really.
Thanks for your sincerity, and solidarity.
This post has received a 0.78 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @banjo.