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Current Affairs Today 09 July 2017
Current Affairs Today 09 July 2017
| Cassini beams back images of Saturn’s solstice |
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| Cassini, spacecraft launched by the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), has beamed back images of a giant storm erupting on Saturn as the ringed planet’s solstice arrived on on 25th May 2017, marking a milestone in the mis- sion that is approaching the end of its 20- year-long journey. A planet’s solstice is the longest day of sum- mer in the northern hemisphere and the shortest day of winter in the southern hemi- sphere. On Saturn, it occurs about every 15 Earth years as the planet and its entourage slowly orbit the Sun, with the north and south hemi- spheres alternating their roles as the summer and winter poles. Reaching the solstice, and observing sea- sonal changes in the Saturn system along the way, was a primary goal of Cassini’s Solstice Mission – the second extended mis- sion of the spacecraft. |
