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Sep 12, 2007 · Saturn's Moon Iapetus Is the Yin-and-Yang of the Solar System. This stunning close-up view shows mountainous terrain that reaches about 10 kilometers (6 miles) high along the unique equatorial ridge of Iapetus. + Full image and caption. Cassini surveys a bright landscape coated by dark material on Iapetus.
- Misshapen Moon
- Hot Times
- All in The Timing
- Ridge Riddle
Matson, Julie Castillo-Rogez of JPL, and their colleagues were prompted to develop a new model for the formation of Iapetus after studying images from the Cassini spacecraft, which flew past the moon in 2005. Those images revealed Iapetus’ bulging waistline and equatorial ridge—a chain of mountains that wraps at least halfway around the moon’s 2,60...
What could have heated Iapetus? Whatever provided the extra warmth had to have done so only briefly. Otherwise, the moon’s equatorial bulge would have continued to diminish, rather than to have been frozen in place. “We searched and searched” for just the right mechanism, says Matson. The researchers propose that the geologically brief infusion of ...
Saturn and its moons formed simultaneously, theorists argue, because all these objects coalesced from the same region within a cloud of gas, dust, and ice that swaddled the young sun. Likewise, most theorists believe that although Jupiter arose from a part of that cloud far closer to the infant sun than did Saturn, the two planets came into existen...
It’s still unclear how Iapetus’ ridge was created. Although Matson, Castillo-Rogez, and their colleagues didn’t develop their model to explain the ridge, their theory provides a possible solution. As the moon’s rotation slowed, the centrifugal force pushing material outward at the equator diminished and the still-warm interior of Iapetus took on a ...
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Overview. Iapetus has been called the yin and yang of the Saturn moons because its leading hemisphere has a reflectivity (or albedo) as dark as coal (albedo 0.03-0.05 with a slight reddish tinge) and its trailing hemisphere is much brighter at 0.5-0.6. Saturn's third largest moon, Iapetus has a mean radius of 457 miles (736 kilometers) and a ...
Iapetus has a bright and a dark hemisphere, with a ridge running along its equator. The dark region is called Cassini Regio and is the principal feature of the leading hemisphere. The surface of Iapetus is heavily cratered, with large impact basins up to 580 kilometres across. Surface darkening on Iapetus comes from organic materials left ...
Jan 9, 2024 · The Titan God of Mortality. In Greek mythology, the titan Iapetus was distinctly associated with human lives’ mortal aspect. He was often referred to as ‘The Piercer,’ embodying mortality’s reality among humans. This title is symbolic for life’s fragile nature, which can be abruptly ceased or “pierced”.
Jul 20, 2015 · Sure that’s a bit odd, but the strangest feature on Iapetus is the equatorial ridge. This feature measures 1,300 km long and it makes the moon look like a space walnut. Because of the heavy ...
Feb 5, 2013 · Iapetus is the third largest moon of Saturn, with a radius of about 42% that of our moon, and a mass that weighs up to only 2.5%. But Iapetus has a number of shocking features, unique throughout ...
