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- Iapetus’ orbit is inclined to the plane of Saturn and is also quite far away. This makes it the only large moon from which an observer could see the rings.
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Oct 5, 2021 · After 350 years, astronomers still can’t explain the solar system’s strangest moon. Saturn’s Iapetus, discovered way back in 1671, has three bizarre features that science still can’t fully ...
- Ethan Siegel
Because of this distant, inclined orbit, Iapetus is the only large moon from which the rings of Saturn would be clearly visible; from the other inner moons, the rings would be edge-on and difficult to see.
Mar 15, 2011 · Iapetus rotates in lockstep with its 79-day orbit around Saturn, long ago forced into synchrony by Saturn's gravity (just as the Moon synchronously spins and revolves around Earth). But Cassini's close-ups prove that Iapetus is distinctly out of round.
Iapetus' 1,471.2 km (914 miles) in diameter stretch is two-sided, on the trailing side, it is covered in a dark material which makes it difficult to see. On the leading side, it is as bright as snow. It was only fairly recent when scientist discovered that the culprit to this is Saturn's other moon Phoebe.
Iapetus’ equatorial ridge runs along 1,300 kilometres through the central region of the moon. It is about 20 kilometres wide and towers up 13 kilometres over the surrounding surface. No one is quite sure why or how it formed. The Voyager and Cassini missions have led in the exploration of Iapetus.
Jul 15, 2022 · The yin-yang moon may prove difficult to spot near the bright rings because we happen to be facing the side coated in coal-black dust, dimming the target from magnitude 10 to 11.2. In a moment, we'll see how this also has advantages. Iapetus appears as a dark pinprick in Saturn's northern hemisphere during its last transit on April 29, 2022.
Aug 14, 2007 · Iapetus, the third-largest and second-farthest-out of Saturn’s satellites, is the weirdest moon in the solar system. One half of it is as bright as snow, the other as black as charcoal.
