Dru Posted January 14, 2005 Posted January 14, 2005 Good job Huygens. Please report on any new ice climbs found on Titan. Quote
Dru Posted January 14, 2005 Author Posted January 14, 2005 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. Quote
catbirdseat Posted January 14, 2005 Posted January 14, 2005 Talk about a great ridge traverse! You can start out headed west and end up back at your starting point without ever changing direction. Quote
Dru Posted January 14, 2005 Author Posted January 14, 2005 No cause it is only on the darkside... read closer CBS Quote
Dru Posted January 14, 2005 Author Posted January 14, 2005 It'll be a bit harder to make an unsupported climb on Iapetus than on Mars though. Especially if you have to row your own rowboat there. Quote
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