A long-running NASA satellite has just taken its final close-up images of Saturn's moon Dione, and the photos are an amazing farewell to the tiny, cratered world.
Cassini flew about 295 miles from Dione's surface on Aug. 17, snapping its goodbye photos as it went. The newly released images show the moon against the backdrop of Saturn and its plane of rings, with one of the final shots putting Dione on display as a bright crescent.
"I am moved, as I know everyone else is, looking at these exquisite images of Dione's surface and crescent, and knowing that they are the last we will see of this far-off world for a very long time to come," Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team lead said in a statement.
"Right down to the last, Cassini has faithfully delivered another extraordinary set of riches. How lucky we have been."
While this marks the last time Cassini will make a close pass of Dione, it isn't the first time the spacecraft has captured flyby photos of the moon. This is actually the fifth close approach Cassini has made with Dione in the probe's 11 years exploring Saturn and its 62 known moons.
In 2011, Cassini passed only 60 miles above Dione in its closest flyby of the moon, NASA said.
Cassini's long mission is set to come to a close in 2017, but the probe still has a long way to go before then. The craft is expected to make close passes with the moon Enceladus in October and December, with one of the October approaches bringing it only 30 miles from the moon's surface, NASA said.
That close pass with the geologically active moon should allow Cassini to take samples from the plumes of "icy spray" Enceladus shoots into space, NASA said. Those samples could reveal a little more about what lurks beneath the moon's surface.
Cassini will also dive into the space between Saturn and its ring plane a number of times before its mission ends in about two years, NASA said.
Once Cassini runs out of fuel, it will make its final dive into Saturn's atmosphere, burning up in the process.
