NASA is highlighting a few more stunning pictures from this week's Cassini probe flyby of Iapetus, Saturn's walnut-shaped moon, and the images are getting even more surreal.
The picture above depicts a close-up of what researchers call the "Himalayas of Iapetus," a part of its mountainous girdle that reaches about 6 miles high. Above the middle of the image, a bright patch is visible where impact has exposed the bright ice underneath the darker top layer.
Scientists are particularly interested in the moon's odd distribution of light and dark patches. The trailing side reflects light as though covered with snow, while the other, leading hemisphere is covered in a dark layer that researchers hope will reveal its secrets when data from this pass is analyzed.
The pictures below, taken from about 3750 miles up, show close-ups of the transition zone between the two regions. Scientists are ecstatic at what they've seen so far:
Researchers said that a gamma ray hit on the probe as it was beginning to send flyby data home on Tuesday sent it into "safe mode," delaying the return of some of the pictures. (Maybe this is what's responsible for all those Windows blue screens I've gotten over the years!). But the data had all been stored on the flight recorders, and was sent later without problem. Instruments are expected to be back
Saturn's Moon Iapetus is the Yin-and-Yang of the Solar System [NASA press release]
(Photo Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
