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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 behind as ice in the warmer Cassini Region region sublimates. The dark patches seem to be made of organic materials similar to those found in early meteorites or comets.
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
Jan 7, 2005 · This oblique view of Saturn's moon Iapetus from high latitude shows how the dark, heavily cratered terrain of Cassini Regio transitions to a bright, icy terrain at high latitudes. In this mosaic of two high resolution images taken during Cassini's New Year's Eve 2004 flyby of Iapetus, the direction toward the north pole is approximately 15 ...
Apr 27, 2019 · Iapetus is heavily cratered, with the largest known crater being the 580 km wide Turgis Crater; which is 40% of the moon's diameter! The Voyager I and Voyager II encounters during 1980 and 1981 validated Cassini's original observations revealing a trailing hemisphere lighter in colour.
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.
Jul 15, 2022 · The arrows point to Saturn's moon Iapetus as it tracks west over a pale cloud zone in the planet's northern hemisphere on April 29, 2022. Observers will see a similar transit on the night between Sunday and Monday, July 17–18, lasting many hours.
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 density only ...
