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Explanation: What lies at the bottom of Hyperion's strange craters? Nobody knows. To help find out, the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn swooped past the sponge-textured moon in late 2005 and took an image of unprecedented detail. That image, shown above in false color, shows a remarkable world strewn with strange craters and a generally odd surface. The slight differences in color likely show differences in surface composition. At the bottom of most craters lies some type of unknown dark material. Inspection of the image shows bright features indicating that the dark material might be only tens of meters thick in some places. Hyperion is about 250 kilometers across, rotates chaotically, and has a density so low that it might house a vast system of caverns inside.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Saturn
Publications with words: Saturn
See also:
- APOD: 2025 April 30 B A Happy Sky over Bufa Hill in Mexico
- APOD: 2025 February 23 B Saturn in Infrared from Cassini
- APOD: 2024 December 8 B Aurora around Saturns North Pole
- Saturn at Night
- APOD: 2024 August 27 B Moon Eclipses Saturn
- APOD: 2024 June 23 B The Colors of Saturn from Cassini
- A Season of Saturn