Cassini: Saturn probe heads towards destruction

The US-led Cassini probe to Saturn will destroy itself in the coming hours.

The $4bn (£3bn) mission is ending 13 years of discoveries at the ringed planet by ditching itself in the atmosphere.

With an expected entry speed of 120,000km/h (76,000mph), the spacecraft will rapidly be torn to pieces.

Scientists, however, hope to gain new information on the chemical composition of Saturn's gases just before Cassini loses radio contact with Earth.

That is likely to occur just after 04:55 local time here at mission control - the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California (11:55 GMT; 12:55BST).