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Rev 49 - Aug 9-Sep 14, 2007 - Iapetus I1, The only close flyby of Iapetus
nprev
post Sep 12 2007, 12:57 AM
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Damn. Now I gotta wonder if the dark LE of Iapetus is actually the native soil that gets errant ice from Enceladus eroded off, presumably because the moon's way outside Saturn's VAn Allen region or by passes through a Titanian gas torus 2X per orbit...those dark crater spots sure look like sublimation artifacts.


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Rob Pinnegar
post Sep 12 2007, 01:04 AM
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It's possible that the reason the bright terrain looks like a "coating" in these images is that the exposure times required to bring out details in the dark terrain are causing the bright terrain to be slightly overexposed.

Does anyone else have the sneaking suspicion that the Snowman complex probably looks a lot like this in close-up sunlit view?
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cschmidt
post Sep 12 2007, 01:28 AM
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mm-hmm sure looks like white on black.
Could a swarm of comets cause such a wierd distribution of evenly bright material? It looks like snow. And the dark areas don't feel icy at all, they look like hammered metal, like a terrrestrial planet.
It's wonderful for us non-scientists to feel the thrill and immediacy of it all; truly awesome. Now, back to the pictures...
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belleraphon1
post Sep 12 2007, 01:28 AM
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HOLY FREAKAHHHHHHHHHHHHH MOLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

all right.... this clinches it.... Alan Stern will HAVE to grant an extended extended just to get back to tuxedo junction here!!!!!!!

Magnificant... nature never disappoints.

Worth the 26 year wait since Voyager 2. (not... wish more missions could be done in this frail human timespan)

biggrin.gif

Craig
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Superstring
post Sep 12 2007, 01:29 AM
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I'm speechless. blink.gif

Notice that on the white side, the few black spots are all splattered crater interiors. If the black material was/is delivered externally to Iapetus, why would it situate precisely in craters in the edge regions? I think it makes more sense to believe the craters caused the natural dark surface to upwell.

But then that begs the question, what would coat Iapetus in white material? If it's ongoing (ie Enceladus), why haven't the crater interiors been coated by now? Or maybe they are recent enough that that hasn't happened yet.

And why would the material build on the TRAILING hemisphere?? That doesn't make sense either.

I love planetary science.
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tedstryk
post Sep 12 2007, 01:29 AM
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If someone posted this one in a Mars forum, I would totally believe this was a view of the polar regions.....superficial resemblance, but resemblance none the less. Wow!!!

Attached Image


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TritonAntares
post Sep 12 2007, 01:31 AM
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Icy crater landscape:
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...and a cut-off mountain wink.gif
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Where the hell are the raws ???
I'm impatiently waiting for more.
This is a really ugly kind of torture...
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tasp
post Sep 12 2007, 01:34 AM
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(I think this is only the 2nd picture I have ever loaded here, if I don't do it right, assistance would be deeply appreciated, picture is ~32kb)

I have been looking over the "mountains over the horizon' picture and have circled some peaks. It appears, that despite their differing absolute sizes, neglecting crater damage, they are all the same shape.

A process that generates highly similar forms, regardless of scale ?? I am reminded of grain piles in the midwest, no matter how big or small they are, they all look alike.

(The one in the immediate foreground might have been a 'clone;' too, but it is all caved off now, so it's hard to tell.)
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tasp
post Sep 12 2007, 01:38 AM
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(Wow, 2 pictures in one night.)

The prototype:
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nprev
post Sep 12 2007, 01:40 AM
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I don't buy dark upwelling...that terrain is ancient, almost saturated by craters, and if there's black goo beneath the surface it surely would have fountained out with each hit. Think that the "real" Iapetus is a metaphorical chunk of coal, covered with frost or icing or whipped cream or something on the trailing side (where it sticks), but gets eroded off the leading side (by something).

Enceladus is the usual suspect for snowing on other moons, but way out here? LOTS of questions...


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JRehling
post Sep 12 2007, 01:42 AM
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[...]
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belleraphon1
post Sep 12 2007, 01:50 AM
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Well...

Glass almost full.... sitting here listening to Henry Jackman version of Miserere, gazing at images of dark/white splotched alien terrain, trying to piece this together. As I finish another round of beer, my tuxedo kitten Kan Kan ponders my lap.

But must now to bed go..... dreaming of an invisible snow fall that drapes all with mysterious tones, a secret not to be revealed just yet.

Just beautiful. Beautiful.

Craig
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cschmidt
post Sep 12 2007, 01:54 AM
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Going with the assumption that there is some type of volatile ices on top of the black, it's notable that the surface on which the white rests appears to be just as beat up as the dark areas.

That would make the white deposits more recent than the dark.

What if.... Iapetus has been hit - recently - by a cloud of snowballs...

Do the dark walls face direct solar radiation, with the ice there having sublimated?
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belleraphon1
post Sep 12 2007, 02:15 AM
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Ok... OK... Ok...

three quick observations and then I am REALLY going to bed.

1) Is it just the contrast between the dark and light material, or does the white stuff look like virgin snow?
Just does not look as "old and processed" as the ice on the other Saturn moons.

2) I can buy the dark stuff, however it is deposited, as eating into the white substrate.

3) We need an artist to help interpret this dark/white panoply... any air brush artists in the house?

Good night.

Can't wait to see the mountain view...

Craig
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Michael Capobian...
post Sep 12 2007, 02:32 AM
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Ahem... not to be smug, and it is too early too say anything conclusively, but I could see this result in the stereo view of the Snowman.

Posted by me on: Mar 13 2006, 05:06 PM:

"Looking at the 3-D rendering of the Snowman/Moat in 3-D, I've come to the conclusion that in that area, at least, on the western edge of Roncevaux Terra, the dark stuff makes up a relatively thin layer with high-albedo ice below it and covering it to a shallow depth. In places, like the "dotted lines" north of the Moat, the bright ice coating is very thin. In other places, it appears the dark layer is nonexistant."

Michael
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