Saturn's Moon Iapetus
June 28th 2009 06:34
When Cassini discovered Iapetus in the 1600`s just over the rim of Saturn. Iapetus is one of Saturn’s most contarversial moons, it has many secrets.
One of which Cassini had wondered why Iapetus would brighten then dim. He assumed that the moon has both dark and bright surface areas which is the case.
Closeup look at Iapetus darker regions
A few centuries later Cassini the space probe obtained the first clear images of Iapetus during a flyby in 2007. The images partially solved the mystery of Iapetus two tones surface.
shows huge mountains on Saturn's moon Iapetus, imaged by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its very close flyby in Sept. 2007. These mountains are located at the moon's equator in the westward-most part of the dark terrain.
The area around the moon’s equator is relatively dark suggests that these areas may have active volcanic thermal vents , this account for the ice being melted and evaporating .
The brighter regions of the moon have less volcanic activity leaving vast regions of the moon`s surface covered in ice.
While the state of Iapitus’s volcanic status is yet unproven there is another factor that would cause a similar effect.
Light from our Sun reaching the darker patches of ice would melt more slowly the brighter ice would evaporate more rapidly this would account for the differing changes in brightness when seen from Earth.
Iapetus shows a crescent moon captures by the Cassini space probe the light coming form Saturn
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