Explanation: Iapetus, Saturn's third largest moon, is a candidate for the strangest moon of Saturn. Tidally locked in its orbit around the ringed gas giant, Iapetus is sometimes called the yin-yang moon because its leading hemisphere is very dark, reflecting about 5 percent of the Sun's light, while its trailing hemisphere is almost as bright as snow. This recent Cassini spacecraft flyby image is one of the closest views ever and spans about 35 kilometers across a cratered transition zone between bright and dark terrain. Iapetus itself has a density close to that of water ice, but the detailed reflective properties of the dark material suggest an organic composition. Honoring the moon's discoverer, the dark terrain is called Cassini Regio.

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami: Yapet Publikacii so slovami: Yapet
Sm. takzhe: Yapet: sputnik Saturna so strannoi poverhnost'yu Raznocvetnyi sputnik Saturna Yapet: stereofotografiya Yapet: raznocvetnyi sputnik Saturna Sputnik NASA Spitcer obnaruzhil samoe bol'shoe kol'co Saturna. Yapet: raskrashennyi sputnik Strannaya storona Yapeta Vid na Yapet s vysoty v chetyre tysyachi kilometrov Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >>