The Dark Side of Iapetus

Hugh Pickens writes "The difference in coloring between Iapetus' leading and trailing hemispheres is striking. NASA's Jet Propulsion Labs has just released a report on a bizarre 'runaway' process that may explain the strange and dramatically two-toned appearance recently revealed in images collected during a close flyby by the Cassini spacecraft. Scientists believe that initially dark material on one side of Iapetus may have come from other moons orbiting Saturn in the opposite direction. Since Iapetus is locked in synchronous rotation about Saturn, as dusty material from the outer moons spiraled in and hit Iapetus head-on, the forward-facing side began to darken. As it absorbed more sunlight, its surface water evaporated, and vapor was transported from the dark side to the white side of Iapetus. Thermal segregation then proceeded in a runaway process as the dark side lost its surface ice and got darker still. Now the leading hemisphere is as dark as a tarred street and the trailing hemisphere resembles freshly fallen snow."

Comments

Segregate by 'Hotness'?

[rts008]

I nominate Natalie Portman in Hot Grits as a baseline for this study....

"Thermal segregation then proceeded in a runaway process as the dark side lost its surface ice and got darker still. Now the leading hemisphere is as dark as a tarred street and the trailing hemisphere resembles freshly fallen snow."

So, we can terraform hot planets by tarring the streets and thus creating freshly fallen snow?...or does this mean that if we tar the streets then Natalie Portman will sled away with me in the new snow?

Do we have to create the streets first?, or just start 'tarring' everything- tarred and feathered?...would this be better still? The tar and nicotine content of my smokes must be interfering here....I'm going back to smoking hot grits....be back to you all after the study is completed next year...decade...century...whatever.( If Natalie Portman is involved, then don't expect to hear from me at all- I'll probably die from shock and not be able to reply!!!)