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<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Donald Chan</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>On September 1, as a dark shadow falls across the morning sky, a burning ring of fire will rise over Africa.</p><p>No, it's not the same ring of fire that Johnny Cash clumsily fell into. And it isn't heralding an apocalypse or any other brand of worldwide catastrophe (as far as we know). And there certainly won't be any circus performers riding tigers through it.</p><p>Instead, this astronomical phenomenon will be a result of something called an annular solar eclipse.</p><h2><strong>A total eclipse gone wrong</strong></h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>NASA</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>A solar eclipse occurs during a new moon, when the moon is sandwiched in a perfect line between Earth and the sun, and the side of the moon facing us is nothing but a shadow.</p><p>In a total eclipse the moon's path carries it directly in front of the sun, where it blocks out all of the light and leaves nothing but the faint white ring of the sun's corona.</p><p>Annular solar eclipses are kind of like total solar eclipses gone wrong.</p><p>In an annular eclipse, the moon passes directly in front of the sun, but because of the moon's elliptical orbit, it's a little too distant and small-seeming to obscure the entire sun. So when the smallish moon sits in the center of our giant, fiery star, it leaves a blazing circle of light in the sky - a ring of fire.</p><p>After Thursday's event, the next <a href="http://www.space.com/33784-solar-eclipse-guide.html">annular solar eclipse</a> will occur on February 26, 2017 and will be visible in South America. A total solar eclipse coined the "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hotel-bookings-for-total-solar-eclipse-in-the-us-occurring-on-august-17-2017-2016-8">Great American Eclipse</a>" is slated for August 21, 2017 and will be visible in the continental US (for the first time in 40 years).</p><h2><strong>How to watch</strong></h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>NASA</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>September's spectacular annular eclipse will only be visible for about ten minutes along a very thin line through the African continent.</p><p><span>The eclipse will begin on one end of the continent, and end on the other side, off the coast of Madagascar.</span></p><p>But observers in the rest of the world won't be completely left in the dark. <a href="http://www.slooh.com/">Slooh</a>, an online observatory, will be offering live coverage of the event, offering as many different views as possible.</p><p>The broadcast will feature solar scientists, Slooh astronomers, and cultural experts to "help bring a deeper understanding to solar eclipses and their place in the larger culture of mankind."</p><h2><strong>Turn around bright eyes</strong></h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Gene Blevins</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>If you do happen to be in the right place (<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/130452/guide-weeks-ring-fire-annular-eclipse/">Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique or Madagascar</a>) at the right time (9:08 a.m. local time) during the event, your naked eyes are one of the worst possible instruments to use to observe the eclipse.</p><p>Even though the moon is covering most of the sun's light, that ring of fire will still flood your eyes with a tremendous amount of radiation. A measly 1% of the sun's light is still intense enough to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-could-happen-when-you-look-at-the-sun-through-a-telescope-2016-5">burn your retina</a>, which is the part of your eye that converts light into signals.</p><p>To avoid nasty conditions like permanent eye damage and blindness, you should probably sport some protective eyewear (something a little more substantial than sunglasses) such as eclipse glasses.</p><p>Or if you want to play it super safe, you can just check out the <a href="http://live.slooh.com/stadium/live/african-ring-of-fire">livestream</a> from <a href="http://www.slooh.com/">Slooh</a> on Thursday, September 1, at 2:30 a.m. EST.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hotel-bookings-for-total-solar-eclipse-in-the-us-occurring-on-august-17-2017-2016-8">People are already freaking out about the biggest cosmic event in America happening a year from now</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="RvY3I0MzE6jgLJu7b3orSqDTMEEhiOeU" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

How to watch this week's breathtaking 'ring of fire' solar eclipse

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/october-solar-eclipse-annular-ring-of-fire-where-how-watch-2023-10">ring of fire</a>" solar eclipse will take place on Saturday, October 14.</li><li>It promises to be a lot more eye-catching than last year's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-where-when-see-solar-eclipse-united-states-nasa-map-2023-3">solar eclipse</a> on Mars.</li></ul><p>There are probably many interesting sights you could see <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plan-colonize-mars-plan-unrealistic-scientists-explain-2023-10">from Mars</a>. The Earth and its moon would <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/89/earth-from-mars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appear as</a> bright stars, for example. But a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-eclipse-stunning-images-show-sun-obscured-in-rare-event-2021-6">solar eclipse</a>? Well, it's a little lackluster. </p><p>Solar eclipses on Earth look the way they do because the size of the moon in the sky is nearly exactly the same size as the sun in the sky. So, when the two align, it's like two halves of an Oreo coming together, which makes for an especially amazing view. But Mars' moons are tiny <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/full-moon-names-meaning-origin-lunar-calendar-2023">compared to Earth's</a>.</p><p>Neither of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-moon-phobos-is-dying-2015-11">Mars' two moons</a>, Phobos and Deimos, are nearly large enough to fully block the sun. Phobos looks about a third the size of Earth's moon, and Deimos is even tinier, appearing like a little speck compared to the sun.</p><p>As a result, Mars has what's called annular eclipses or transits, where you can still see most of the sun as one of the moons moves past.</p><p>Earth has its own annular eclipse due to start in southwestern Oregon at 9:13 a.m. PDT on Saturday, October 14. But as shown below, Earth's moon covers much more of the sun, just leaving the fringes visible which creates an effect that looks like a ring of fire, hence the nickname for this type of eclipse on Earth.</p><div type="image" title="A side-by-side image of Phobos transitting the sun and a solar eclipse of Earth's moon with a bright ring of fire around the dark shape" height="1080" width="1440" msid="104420859" hostid="261" sizebytes="20020"></div><p>The event on Earth promises to be breathtaking, especially for those in parts of the US where residents will see the moon overtake most of the sun. However, only watch with the proper <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-approved-eclipse-glasses-brands-2017-8">protective eyewear</a>.</p><h2>The transit of Mars' moon Phobos across the sun</h2><p>In 2022, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasas-perseverance-rover-experiment-reliably-making-oxygen-on-mars-2022-8">NASA's Perseverance rover</a> observed Phobos' transit. The image is far from breathtaking. Instead, it starts off looking a bit like an overhead projector where someone's finger is obscuring the image. </p><p>Slowly, slowly the dark blob moves across the bright yellow ball. Eventually, the potato-shaped Phobos moves out of frame. The cosmic ballet continues. </p><div type="image" title="Solar eclipse on Mars." height="401" width="650" msid="104420861" hostid="261" sizebytes="3352"></div><p>So this may not be Perseverance's finest photo. That's OK. It still has plenty of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-perseverance-rover-best-photos-100-days-on-mars-2021-6">spectacular images</a> in its portfolio. Its 23 cameras have picked up craters, sand dunes, dust devils, and much more on the red planet. </p><p>And even if the transit itself wasn't as impressive as eclipses here on Earth, looking back at other images and video of <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/planets/mars/what-does-a-solar-eclipse-look-like-on-mars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">similar events</a> taken from other NASA spacecraft does highlight the impressiveness of Perseverance's technology.</p><p>For comparison, here's a shot of what Opportunity saw in 2004 and what the Curiosity rover saw during a 2019 eclipse:</p><div type="image" title="The sun in three images with Mars's moons in transit going past, looking like small dark blobs" height="750" width="1000" msid="104420863" hostid="261" sizebytes="4158"></div><p>Perseverance landed on Mars on February 18, 2021. It <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/electrical-power/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">should last</a> at least another decade, so it will have plenty of opportunities to capture stunning photos and videos, eclipses and all. </p>

Mars's sad, potato-shaped moon eclipsing the sun shown in NASA video. Be glad you're on Earth for this weekend's solar eclipse.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A subatomic particle called the muon is wobbling far more than leading physics models can explain.</li><li>Its unusual behavior could be evidence of a fifth force of nature or a new dimension.</li></ul><p>Physicists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have found more evidence that a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/muon-experiment-physics-hidden-force-universe-2021-4">subatomic particle is behaving unexpectedly</a>. And the reason could be evidence of a new, fifth force of nature.</p><p>Currently, there are four known forces of nature: gravitational, electromagnetic, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. These four forces help us describe how the universe works.</p><p>But there are still cosmic wonders we don't understand — mysteries that the discovery of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fifth-force-of-nature-could-unlock-the-dark-universe-2016-8">fifth force of nature</a> may help solve.</p><h2>The magnificent muon and its unusual wobble</h2><p>In 2021, physicists using the Muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab noticed a certain type of subatomic particle, called a muon, was wobbling more than expected.</p><p>Scientists at Brookhaven National Lab had <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/confirmed-muon-wobble-remains-unexplained#:~:text=How%20fast%20do%20elementary%20particles,widely%20in%20physics%2C%20is%20incomplete.">witnessed</a> a similar phenomenon 20 years earlier, in 2001, but this unusual behavior has remained unexplained, puzzling physicists for over two decades.</p><p>Muons are similar to electrons — the tiny particles that zip around atomic nuclei — but are 200 times more massive; hence their nickname, "fat electrons."</p><p>These fat electrons can penetrate objects like X-rays, Aylin Woodward reported for Insider, and have been used to help scientists <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hidden-corridor-great-pyramid-egypt-giza-cosmic-rays-scientists-2023-3">uncover a hidden chamber</a> in Egypt's Great Pyramid and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/muons-help-map-magma-inside-volcanoes-predict-eruptions-2021-11">peer inside the guts of volcanoes</a>.</p><p>Now, they may help physicists unlock a new force of nature. </p><div type="image" title="Illustration of an atomic nucleus surrounded by electrons." height="776" width="1024" msid="102735864" hostid="261"></div><p>"Like electrons, muons have a tiny internal magnet that, in the presence of a magnetic field, precesses or wobbles like the axis of a spinning top," Fermilab said in a <a href="https://news.fnal.gov/2023/08/muon-g-2-doubles-down-with-latest-measurement/">statement</a> last week.</p><p>To study these muons, physicists fired them into a superconducting magnetic ring and measured how they behaved as they raced around thousands of times at close to the speed of light. </p><p>What physicists observed was that the muons were wobbling far more than could be predicted with the <a href="https://www.energy.gov/science/doe-explainsthe-standard-model-particle-physics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Standard Model of Particle Physics</a> — a mathematical guide that physicists have used for the last 50 years to explain and understand the subatomic realm.</p><h2>A 5th force of nature</h2><div type="image" title="quantum fabric spacetime einstein rosen bridge wormhole worm hole space shutterstock_309841256" height="1600" width="2400" msid="102735865" hostid="261"></div><p>If the equations set down by the Standard Model can't explain the muon's unusual wobble, physicists will be forced to look for other explanations.</p><p>One possible explanation is that the muons' behavior is dictated by a fifth force of nature. Others could be the presence of a new exotic particle, the existence of a new dimension, or another unknown space-time property, <a href="https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/wobbling-muon-experiment-could-reveal-a-5th-force-of-nature-if-the-results-hold-up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LiveScience</a> reported.</p><p>"We're really probing new territory," Brendan Casey, a senior physicist at Fermilab said in the lab's press release. "We're determining the muon magnetic moment at a better precision than it has ever been seen before."</p><p>That said, there are two ways to use the Standard Model to describe the muon's wobble, and they offer conflicting results, per <a href="https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/wobbling-muon-experiment-could-reveal-a-5th-force-of-nature-if-the-results-hold-up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LiveScience</a>. </p><p>One way scientists hope to resolve the discrepancy is with more precise measurements. That's why Fermilab physicists collected four times more data this time compared to 2021, enabling them to reduce experimental uncertainty by a factor of two, LiveScience reported.</p><p>"We expect another factor of two in precision when we finish" analyzing the final three years of data, said Graziano Venanzoni, the co-spokesperson of the Muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab.</p><p>If the results reveal a fifth force of nature, it could help explain some of science's biggest questions, including: What is dark matter made of? What is dark energy? And why does the universe contain far more matter than antimatter?</p><p>Scientists realize that they may have to move beyond the confines of the Standard Model in order to answer these questions. And mysteries like the muon's wobble are breadcrumbs leading the way to what could be the next revolution in physics. </p>

A weirdly wobbly 'muon' particle might revolutionize physics by revealing a 5th force of nature or another dimension

<p>There is only one cosmic phenomenon that could generate this seemingly red ring of fire around Earth:</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div> The answer: A total lunar eclipse, like the one happening this month on Sept. 27. Read on to learn what this red ring really is and why it's important.<p>Thanks to this <a href="https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=4341">incredible animation</a> by <a href="https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html">NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio</a>, you can see what this month's total lunar eclipse will look like from a vantage point unlike any other: the moon.</p><p>If there were human colonies on the moon, this would be their version of a total solar eclipse. The difference is that instead of the moon eclipsing the sun, it's the Earth eclipsing the sun:</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Although you're standing on the moon in the animation above witnessing a solar eclipse, you can still pick out the different stages of the lunar eclipse that your fellow Earthlings will see.<p>During a total lunar eclipse, the moon passes completely through Earth's shadow, which has two parts: the penumbra and umbra, labeled below:</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div> Earth's umbra, which is Latin for "shadow," is the place in space where no light can reach. So, when the moon starts to pass through the umbra, it seems to disappear from view, like so:<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div> And if you're on the moon when this happens, you will be engulfed in shadow, like in the GIF below:<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>As more of the moon enters Earth's umbra, however, people on Earth will see it reappear but instead of its regular white glow it will grow a deep, sometimes blood-like red hue. Below is a photo that <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/by_photo/">Bill Young</a> took of the blood moon - as it is sometimes called - during last October's lunar eclipse:<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div> The moon turns red because Earth's atmosphere is refracting, or bending the sun's light in the moon's direction. And because blue light scatters more than red light, it is the red light that reaches the moon's surface, reflects back, and enters our eyes.<p>If the Earth had no atmosphere, the moon would turn black instead of red during a total lunar eclipse.</p><h2>A red ring of fire</h2><p>But if you were standing on the moon at this time what would you see?</p><p>The Earth itself does not turn red. Instead you would see a red ring of fire encircle the Earth. This is the atmosphere's light-bending in action.</p><p>What's more, this red ring is every single sunset and sunrise on Earth - at that moment - in one breath-taking shot because it's the light from the sun that's passing just below and above Earth's horizons, as it does during a sunset and sunrise (note how the lunar surface isn't black but red from the refracted sunlight):</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div> The same time that a Lunarian (moon-person) saw a total eclipse of the sun, Earthlings would see a total eclipse of the moon.<p>But there is one important difference for Lunarians: As long as you're on the Earth-facing side of the moon, you will see the total solar eclipse no matter where you're standing.</p><p>Anyone who enjoys solar eclipses on Earth, knows that this is not the case for Earthlings. That's because, during a solar eclipse on Earth, the moon's much smaller shadow only casts over a tiny portion of Earth, which is why it's an extremely rare treat to witness a total eclipse of the sun even once in a lifetime.</p><p>Stay tuned for more details on how to watch this month's total lunar eclipse.</p><p><span>Check it the full video on </span><a href="https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=4341">NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio</a><span> or below:</span></p><p><span><div></div></span></p><p class="embed-spacer">&#xa0;</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/aerial-video-explosion-blast-site-tianjin-china-2015-8">New aerial footage shows aftermath of explosion in China</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="tkdzUxdzqidr5j3bDhTKNZS1v2q3Z4nZ" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

A NASA video shows what a total lunar eclipse looks like from the moon, and it's mind-blowing

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>NASA</span></p><p class="caption">2011 Annular Solar Eclipse</p></div><p></p></div></div>Next week, the moon will block out all but a bright ring around the sun, known as an annular eclipse. Unfortunately, the spectacular "ring of fire" will only be visible in a remote and uninhabited region of Antarctica.</p>
<p>Other parts of the world, however, will be able to see partial phases of the eclipse. That includes all of <a href="http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2014.html" target="_blank">Australia and the southern edge of Indonesia</a>.</p>
<p>An annular solar eclipse is different than a total solar eclipse, when the moon blots out the entire sun. It occurs when the moon crosses the sun dead-center at its farthest distance from Earth, meaning the moon isn't big enough to cover the sun completely. The moon appears as a black dot at the center of a blazing ring. </p>
<p>For those folks not in the path of the partial eclipse, the Slooh Space Camera will <a href="http://events.slooh.com/stadium/annular-solar-eclipse-australia-april-26-2014" target="_blank">broadcast the cosmic event</a> as it happens over Australia. A livestream is embedded below.</p>
<p>The event has been dubbed the "Penguin" Annular Solar Eclipse since it's "one of the few annular eclipses that will most likely only be seen by penguins," Slooh astronomer Bob Berman said in an emailed statement. The webcast will begin Tuesday, April 29, at 2 a.m. EDT.</p>
<p>NASA's Fred Espenak has <a href="http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OHtables/OH2014-Tab02.pdf" target="_blank">created a table</a> that lists the start and end times of the eclipse for a number of cities in Australia.</p>
<p></p>
<p>"This is a thoroughly bizarre eclipse," Berman said. "When SLOOH brings its live feeds from Australia, and we watch in real time as the inky black hemisphere of the Moon partially obscures the Sun, the greatest thrill might be an awareness of what's occurring - unseen by any human - in a tiny region of Antarctica."</p>
<p>You can use <a href="http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2014Apr29Agoogle.html" target="_blank">this interactive Google map</a> to see the path of the annular eclipse, marked in blue as a small D-shaped region in eastern Antarctica. The green marker labeled "GE" stands for Greatest Eclipse, which is "when the axis of the Moon's shadow cone passes closest to Earth's center," according to NASA.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>NASA/Google Maps</span></p></div><p></p></div></div><strong style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">WARNING: Remember that all solar eclipses can damage your eyes. You should never look directly at the sun during an eclipse without a telescope filter or protective eyewear - sunglasses won't work.</strong></p>

A 'Thoroughly Bizarre' Eclipse Is Happening Next Week

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>NASA has sent its $3.26-billion Cassini Saturn mission into a death spiral.</strong></li><li><strong>Called the "Grand Finale," the months-maneuver is meant to protect possible alien life on Saturn's ocean-hiding moons.</strong></li><li><strong>Cassini will be destroyed in Saturn's clouds around 6:32 a.m. EDT on Friday.</strong></li></ul><p>The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cassini-death-will-it-be-visible-nasa-hubble-telescopes-2017-9">end is nigh</a> for Cassini, a spacecraft that launched in 1997 and has explored Saturn and its moons for 13 years.</p><p>However, scientists will squeeze every <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-cassini-saturn-finale-timeline-2017-4">last discovery they can</a> from the probe during its final moments.</p><p>NASA is destroying the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-powered-spacecraft-nasa-history-2017-3">nuclear-powered robot</a> early Friday morning because it has run very low on propellant. Burning that fuel has led to countless discoveries, including a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saturn-hexagon-storm-images-2017-5">giant hexagon</a> on Saturn's north pole and a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/earth-water-ice-volume-versus-planets-moons-2016-11">vast ocean</a> of liquid water - and possibly alien life - below the icy crust of the moon <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saturns-moon-enceladus-cassini-ocean-life-global-salty-nasa-2015-9">Enceladus</a>.</p><p>But it's also created a problem, since the spacecraft is dusted with earthly microbes.</p><p>"Cassini's own discoveries were its demise," Earl Maize, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) who manages the Cassini mission, previously <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cassini-death-grand-finale-reason-2017-4">told reporters</a>. "We cannot risk inadvertent contact with that pristine body."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Instead of chucking Cassini into the void of space, mission managers in 2010 decided to squeeze every last ounce of the probe's fuel tanks at Saturn.<p>With one last big burn in April 2017, the probe began a spectacular death spiral called the "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/cassini-grand-finale">Grand Finale</a>." This maneuver slipped Cassini through a veritable cosmic keyhole: a small gap between Saturn and its rings.</p><p>So far, the probe has made 22 ring crossings. On Friday, it will make one final orbit, plunge into the Saturnian atmosphere, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cassini-death-will-it-be-visible-nasa-hubble-telescopes-2017-9">burst into light</a> as an artificial meteor.</p><p>"Cassini has got to be put safely away," Maize previously said. The decision was made at the recommendation of NASA's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-planetary-protection-officer-job-opening-2017-7">planetary protection office</a>.</p><p>With just days left in the mission, here's what to expect and when, <a href="https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grand-finale/cassini-end-of-mission-timeline/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according to NASA JPL</a>.</p><p><em>Note: Since beams of light (and data transmissions) take more than an hour to reach Earth from Saturn, all times are from Cassini's vantage unless otherwise noted.</em></p><h2>Final Grand Finale data download</h2><p><strong>When</strong>: Friday, Sept. 9 - 9:07 a.m. EDT</p><p><strong>What</strong>: Cassini beamed back images and other data from the probe's final crossing <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-cassini-saturn-rings-pictures-2017-4">between Saturn and its rings</a>.</p><h2>Titan's 'goodbye kiss'</h2><p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>When</strong>: Monday, Sept. 11 - 3:04 p.m. EDT</p><p><strong>What</strong>: A flyby of Titan, a moon the size of planet Mercury, that put Cassini on course to slam into Saturn.</p><p>"Instead of passing safely into and out of Saturn's outermost atmosphere," NASA JPL <a href="https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grand-finale/grand-finale-orbit-guide/">wrote on its site</a>, "Cassini will instead dip so deeply into the atmosphere that the spacecraft will burn up like a meteor."</p><h2>Soaring before the plunge</h2><p><strong>When</strong>: Tuesday, Sept. 12 - 1:27 a.m. EDT</p><p><strong>What</strong>: Cassini reached its farthest point from Saturn, called an orbital apoapsis, before beginning its final descent toward the planet. The spacecraft was about 800,000 miles away from Saturn.</p><h2>Last images of Titan</h2><p><strong>When</strong>: Tuesday, Sept. 12 - 7:56 p.m. EDT</p><p><strong>What</strong>: All of the images Cassini took of Saturn's moon Titan during its "goodbye kiss" were sent home.</p><h2>Speeding toward doom</h2><p><strong><br>When</br></strong>: Tuesday, Sept. 12 - Friday, Sept. 15</p><p><strong>What</strong>: Cassini will gradually accelerate as Saturn - a planet 95 times the mass of Earth - drags the probe toward its destruction. The robot will reach a speed of about 78,000 mph before splintering into <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cassini-saturn-mission-death-plutonium-238-burn-up-2017-8">glowing, meteoric pieces</a>.</p><h2>Cassini's final photos</h2><p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></strong></p><p><strong>When</strong>: Thursday, Sept. 14 - 3:56 p.m. EDT</p><p><strong>What</strong>: The probe will take one final image before shutting down its camera system. That picture will be of Saturn "looking toward the dark side of the planet at the impact location" <a href="https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/visible-and-infrared-mapping-spectrometer/">in infrared light</a>, plus - in visible light - "a fairly dark observation showing in the area lit by reflected light from the rings," Preston Dyches, a spokesperson for NASA JPL, told Business Insider in an email.</p><p>Dyches added: "Prior to that, the last image will be of one of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/daphnis-saturn-moonlet-image-cassini-nasa-2017-1">propeller features</a> in the rings."</p><h2>Live transmission begins</h2><p><br><strong>When</strong>: Thursday, Sept. 14 - 4:22 p.m. EDT</br></p><p><strong>What</strong>: Cassini reorients itself so that its big, non-moving antenna dish is pointed toward Earth, allowing NASA to download all data it's recorded (included the final photos). The spacecraft will fight to maintain this position for the next 14 hours and 30 minutes - right until the moment it burns up - so that it can transmit atmospheric and other data in real-time.</p><h2>Australia tracks Cassini</h2><p><strong>When</strong>: Thursday, Sept. 14 - 11:15 p.m. EDT</p><p><strong>What</strong>: A <a href="https://www.cdscc.nasa.gov/">Deep Space Network station</a> in Canberra, Australia, will point its giant radio dishes at Saturn to receive track Cassini and receive its final signals until the probe dies.</p><h2>The Grand Finale - Friday, Sept. 15</h2><h3>Spacecraft roll, live transmission starts</h3><p><strong>When</strong>: 3:14 a.m. EDT</p><p><strong>What</strong>: A few hours before burning up, and while keeping its antenna pointed at Earth, Cassini will take five minutes to roll itself into a new position. This will point an instrument called the ion and neutral mass spectrometer, or INMS, toward Saturn - allowing NASA to "sniff" the planet's atmospheric gases.</p><p>As Cassini rolls, its computer will reconfigure for live transmission of atmospheric data. The bandwidth will be just 3.4 kilobytes per second - about 830 times slower than the <a href="http://www.speedtest.net/reports/united-states/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">average download speed</a> of a US mobile phone - but it will be enough to get crucial data about the composition of Saturn's gases home to Earth.</p><h3>Atmospheric entry, thrusters fire</h3><p><strong><br>When</br></strong>: 6:31 a.m. EDT</p><p><strong>What</strong>: Cassini starts to plunge into the outer fringes of Saturn's thick atmosphere - something the probe was never designed to do. It won't go silently to its death, though: Cassini will start firing its position-changing thrusters at 10% of "open throttle" to keep its antenna dish pointed at Earth as gases buffet the spacecraft.</p><h3>Loss of contact</h3><p><strong>When</strong>: 6:32 a.m. EDT</p><p><strong>What</strong>: About a minute after ramming into Saturn's atmosphere at up to 78,000 mph, Cassini's computer will boost the thrusters to 100% to keep the live transmission going.</p><p>However, the robot won't win this battle. Maize and <a href="http://www4.csudh.edu/inauguration/events/womeninstem/speaker-bios/julie-webster" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Julie Webster</a>, an aerospace engineer and manager of the Cassini spacecraft, told reporters during an August 29 teleconference that the probe has about 60 lbs of propellant out of the 6,900 lbs it started with to use - not enough to right the antenna during the entire descent. At some point Cassini will begin to tumble toward its doom.</p><h3>Total destruction</h3><p><strong><br>When</br></strong>: Seconds to minutes after signal loss</p><p><strong>What</strong>: Cassini will heat up more rapidly the deeper and faster it dives. In fact, "temperatures around the spacecraft will increase by 30-to-100 times per minute" as it descends, <a href="https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/the-journey/grand-finale-feature/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NASA said</a>.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Insulating gold-colored blankets will char and break off first, followed by Cassini's antenna, 30-foot-long magnetometer boom, and other loose or fragile parts. Carbon blocks full of plutonium-238 fuel <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cassini-saturn-mission-death-plutonium-238-burn-up-2017-8">will last the longest</a>.<p>"It will basically disintegrate ... long before we hit any real surface of Saturn," Webster said. "Not too long after we lose signal, we'll have already started to be 200 to 500 degrees centigrade - within seconds. We'll start to melt. All parts of it."</p><p>"The deepest it could possibly go in the atmosphere is about 200 kilometers, or 120 miles," Eric Strum, a Cassini mission planner, said on the call. He added that Cassini will disintegrate "thousands of kilometers" above what scientists consider the "surface" of Saturn - where air pressure is the same as on Earth's surface.</p><p>Once fully melted, NASA said, "Cassini's materials will sink deep into Saturn and mix with the hot, high-pressure atmosphere of the giant planet to be completely diluted."</p><h3>Photos of Cassini exploding(?)</h3><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p><strong>When</strong>: 1 hour, 23 minutes, and 28 seconds after Cassini is destroyed</p><p><strong>What</strong>: This is about how long the bursts of light caused by Cassini's death will take to reach Earth. (Saturn will be some 932,822,000 miles away at that moment, according to "<a href="https://eyes.nasa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NASA's Eyes on the Solar System</a>" software.)</p><p>The Hubble space telescope might have recorded Cassini's death in ultraviolet light - the strongest signal the probe will emit as it burns up. But Linda Spilker, a Cassini project scientist and a planetary scientist at NASA JPL, told Business Insider that Hubble <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cassini-death-will-it-be-visible-nasa-hubble-telescopes-2017-9">won't be in a position to see Cassini die</a>.</p><p>Spilker is hopeful that professional observatories and hobbyist astronomers in the southern hemisphere catch a glimpse, especially if several kilograms of Cassini's hydrazine fuel explodes brightly in the final moments.</p><p>"We've got sort of the double-whammy of a little tiny spacecraft that's really not that massive hitting on basically the day side of Saturn. So it's unlikely, but it's definitely worth looking," Spilker told Business Insider. "It's gonna be tough, but I'm hopeful."</p><div><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:57%"></div></div><div><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:54%"></div></div><div><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:54%"></div></div><div><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:43%"></div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/5-biggest-discoveries-nasa-saturn-cassini-huygens-2017-5">The 5 biggest discoveries from NASA's Cassini spacecraft that changed our view of space</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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