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Cassini Shows Close Up of Iapetus

Posted by michael on from the looks-rocky dept.

dazza101 writes "The Cassini spacecraft passed within 72,000 kms of the Saturn moon Iapetus yesterday, taking a series of spectacular images of this intriguing moons rugged surface. An excellent prelude to what promises to be one of the major stories of the new year, the plunge of the Huygens probe into Titan's atmosphere on January 24."

2 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Re:If that's no space station, what is it? by Pinkfud · · Score: 5, Informative

    That's a "rebound effect". Whatever caused that crater was so big and hit so hard that it penetrated the moon's crust. The more plastic inner material was violently compressed, then shot out through the center of the crater forming the "mountain". It's a rare phenomenon, but I don't have any trouble believing it's natural.

    --
    The world is my oyster. That's why it's always in a stew.
  2. Re:If that's no space station, what is it? by The+Journalist · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cheney should be very worried now. NASA's found his prototype Death Star.