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OxQQme

(2,550 posts)
17. Saturn's Iapetus
Wed Aug 21, 2013, 02:24 PM
Aug 2013

<pic>

<Overview> http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Sat_Iapetus


from A Room with a view: http://www.enterprisemission.com/moon1.htm

<snip> … the ship had long since passed the boundary set by outermost Phoebe, moving backward in a wildly eccentric orbit eight million miles from its primary. Ahead of it now lay Iapetus, Hyperion, Titan, Rhea, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus, Mimas, Janus – and the rings themselves. All the satellites showed a maze of surface detail … Titan alone – three thousand miles in diameter, and as large as Mercury – would occupy … months …

There was more; already he was certain that Iapetus was his goal.

… One hemisphere of the satellite, which, like its companions, turned the same face always toward Saturn, was extremely dark, and showed very little surface detail. In complete contrast, the other was dominated by a brilliant white oval, about four hundred miles long and two hundred wide. At the moment, only part of this striking formation was in daylight, but the reason for Iapetus’s extraordinary variations in brilliance was now quite obvious ….

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

... In_The_Wind Aug 2013 #1
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! onehandle Aug 2013 #2
. Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2013 #11
"If We Had No Moon" arcane1 Aug 2013 #3
100% of known planets with life have a big moon, regulating and oscillating elements. onehandle Aug 2013 #4
Here's a poem I wrote years ago for a moon viewing festival. nolabear Aug 2013 #5
It is truly space matter. onehandle Aug 2013 #6
While I'm being all show-iffy, here's another. nolabear Aug 2013 #7
Full Moon Silhouettes Xipe Totec Aug 2013 #8
But given enough time, won't all moons eventually become tidally locked? petronius Aug 2013 #9
It's enigmatic, ain't it? MiddleFingerMom Aug 2013 #10
Try this on for size... bluesbassman Aug 2013 #12
Grapefruit moon..... cliffordu Aug 2013 #13
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie... pinboy3niner Aug 2013 #15
I've never seen the man in the moon Xyzse Aug 2013 #14
Big Moon Rising pokerfan Aug 2013 #16
Saturn's Iapetus OxQQme Aug 2013 #17
We like the moon... Spike89 Aug 2013 #18
Latest Discussions»The DU Lounge»All my life the Moon has ...»Reply #17