Nasa's Cassini spacecraft poised to begin mission-ending dive into Saturn

On Friday, the spacecraft will plunge toward the giant planet and burn up in its atmosphere, ending a remarkable 20-year journey over eight billion kilometres

After one last look at Saturn and its moons, Nasa's Cassini spacecraft will call time on its 20-year mission on Friday when it dives headlong into the giant planet and burns up in the atmosphere.

And so a man-made meteor will streak across Saturn's sky soon after 11.30 am UK time, though confirmation of the spacecraft's demise more than a billion kilometres away, and on the wrong side of the asteroid belt, will not reach Earth for another 83 minutes, when the signals beamed home from the probe fall silent.