--- title: See Cassini's Final Photos of Saturn's Moon Dione description: The spacecraft made its final flyby past the planet's mysterious moon on August 17 canonical: https://time.com/4005686/see-last-cassini-saturn-moon-photos/ author: TIME Photo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-20T23:27:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:01:58.669Z article:section: Science og:title: See Cassini's Haunting Final Images of Saturn's Moon og:description: The spacecraft made its final flyby of Dione, Saturn's mysterious moon og:url: https://time.com/4005686/see-last-cassini-saturn-moon-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf34e173fc2c0bb5/69886052cd1bba0ad56fcd5e/cassini-dione-final-photos-07.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Cassini Saturn Moon Dione Final Flyby Photos og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Cassini's Haunting Final Images of Saturn's Moon twitter:description: The spacecraft made its final flyby of Dione, Saturn's mysterious moon twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf34e173fc2c0bb5/69886052cd1bba0ad56fcd5e/cassini-dione-final-photos-07.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Cassini's Haunting Final Images of Saturn's Moon Dione by [TIME Photo](https://time.com/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Aug 20, 2015 11:27 PM UTC  Saturn's moon Dione hangs in front of Saturn's rings. Saturn's moon Dione hangs in front of Saturn's rings.NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute by [TIME Photo](https://time.com/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Aug 20, 2015 11:27 PM UTC  Saturn's moon Dione hangs in front of Saturn's rings. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  Dione hangs in front of Saturn and its icy rings. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  NASA's Cassini spacecraft looks toward Saturn's icy moon Dione, with giant Saturn and its rings in the background, just prior to the mission's final close approach to the moon on August 17, 2015. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  The rough and icy crescent of Saturn's moon Dione following the spacecraft's last close flyby of the moon on Aug. 17, 2015. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  NASA's Cassini spacecraft gazes out upon a rolling, cratered landscape in this oblique view of Saturn's moon Dione. A record of impacts large and small is preserved in the moon's ancient, icy surface. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  As NASA's Cassini soared above high northern latitudes on Saturn's moon Dione, the spacecraft looked down at a region near the day-night boundary. Inset just above center is a higher resolution view -- one of the mission's highest-resolution views of the Saturnian moon's icy surface. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  This two-in-one view of Dione from NASA's Cassini spacecraft includes the mission's highest-resolution view of the Saturnian moon's icy surface. An inset view, near center left, from the narrow-angle camera (NAC) shows features about 10 times smaller than the WAC view. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  This view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows terrain on Saturn's moon Dione that is entirely lit by reflected light from Saturn, called Saturnshine. 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