Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research

Season's Greetings

An eventful year draws to an end and we are thankful that we could rely on your collboration and trust.

We wish you happy holidays and a Happy New Year.

For more than 13 years, NASA's space probe Cassini has explored the Saturnian System. On 15 September 2017 the mission ended with the spacecraft's controlled plunge into Saturn. The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research buildt the particle detector MIMI/LEMMS for the mission.

Below 12 of the most spectaluar images of Saturn, its rings, and its moons taken by Cassini over these years.

Cassini results

The particle detector MIMI/LEMMS measures the distribution of high-energy electrons and protons in the planet's so-called radiation belts. We discovered that the radiation belts develop completely independently of the solar wind, but are significantly influenced by the gas planet's moons (see press release).

Der animated diagram shows the particle pressure in the energy range of 3 to 230 keV (y-axis) versus distance from the planet between 25 to 30 Saturn radii (x-axis) in Saturn's magnetosphere measured by the MIMI/CHEMS sensor onboard Cassini.