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But hey, the Solar System has a new K2!!

 

Saturn's Moon Iapetus Shows a Bulging Waistline

 

01.07.05

 

 

Images returned by NASA's Cassini spacecraft cameras during a New Year's Eve flyby of Saturn’s moon Iapetus (eye-APP-eh-tuss) show startling surface features that are fueling heated scientific discussions about their origin.

 

Image left: This stereo view of Iapetus shows the spherical shape of Iapetus and some of the moon's topography. The prominent linear ridge in the center of the dark area - a place known as Cassini Regio - marks the equator quite closely. The ridge was first discovered in this set of images and was seen at higher resolution in images taken during Cassini’s flyby of Iapetus on New Year’s Eve 2004. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. + Full image and caption.

 

One of these features is a long narrow ridge that lies almost exactly on the equator of Iapetus, bisects its entire dark hemisphere and reaches 20 kilometers high (12 miles). It extends over 1,300 kilometers (808 miles) from side to side, along its midsection. No other moon in the solar system has such a striking geological feature. In places, the ridge is comprised of mountains. In height, they rival Olympus Mons on Mars, approximately three times the height of Mt. Everest, which is surprising for such a small body as Iapetus. Mars is nearly five times the size of Iapetus.

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