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Is Iapetus cratered?
Is Iapetus a moon?
Which craters are more massive than Iapetus?
Is Iapetus a Saturnian moon?
Iapetus is heavily cratered, and Cassini images have revealed large impact basins, at least five of which are over 350 km (220 mi) wide. The largest, Turgis , has a diameter of 580 km (360 mi); [24] its rim is extremely steep and includes a scarp about 15 km (9.3 mi) high. [25]
- 3.26 km/s
- Saturn
- 6700000 km²
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.
Oct 5, 2021 · Starts With A Bang — October 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...
- Ethan Siegel
However, despite the great distance, Saturn has tidally locked Iapetus. The moon always presents the same face toward Saturn. With its distant, inclined orbit, Iapetus is the only large moon from which there is a nice view of the rings of Saturn.
Sep 12, 2007 · Images show a surface that is heavily cratered, along with the mountain ridge that runs along the moon's equator. Many of the close-up observations focused on studying the strange 20-kilometer high (12 mile) mountain ridge that gives the moon a walnut-shaped appearance.
The heavily cratered surface of the ridge implies that it was formed very early in the history of Iapetus. Models suggest that it was formed by motions of a thin, active ice lithosphere when deeper layers of the moon were warm. On the other hand, the moon’s observed impact basins and other topography generally require a thicker lithosphere ...
Jan 7, 2005 · This view of Saturn's moon Iapetus captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows how the dark, heavily cratered terrain of Cassini Regio transitions to a bright, icy terrain at high latitudes.
