NASA'S Cassini spacecraft made the first-ever dive between Saturn and its rings last week. Experts expected Cassini to encounter dust when it dived through the 1,200-mile gap between Saturn and its rings on April 26. To protect the spacecraft, Cassini used its dish-shaped high-gain antenna, which measures 13 feet across, as a protective shield. "The region between the rings and Saturn is 'the big empty,' apparently," said Cassini Project Manager Earl Maize of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, in a statement. NASA'S CASSINI SPACECRAFT SENDS FIRST IMAGES FROM SATURN RINGS DIVECassini only encountered a few dust particles as it passed through the ring gap, according to NASA, none of which were larger than the particles in smoke.

Source: Fox News May 03, 2017 18:00 UTC