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Iapetus - Black on white or white on black?
Ice and Gunk
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SFJCody
post Sep 14 2007, 07:40 AM
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Seems to be a lot of dispute on this subject... I think it's ice from the interior, but what does everyone else think?

Edit:

This world seems very complex so the question could perhaps be phrased as 'which of these options is most responsible for the Iapetan dichotomy?'
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dvandorn
post Sep 18 2007, 01:46 PM
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OK -- I understand your conclusion, here. But I still want to hear your theory for how Iapetus got a dark, reddish natural surface, and from where the bright ices that are covering this dark surface came. If insolation can "burn off" the snow from sun-facing slopes, over billions of years, shouldn't it have burned off ALL of the snow?

Iapetus has no atmosphere, so we're not talking about a hydrocycle, here. If what everyone has been saying is true and it's stone-cold dead, it hasn't vented icy plumes for billions of years. So why hasn't all of the snow been burned off, the vapor sputtered into space?

And, to reiterate -- how did this entire moon get surfaced with a dark reddish material that's different in composition from any of the other icy moons, and yet seems similar in composition to Titan's atmosphere?

Before I can accept the concept that the dark material is the natural surface and the icy snow lies on top of it, I need to hear a mechanism postulated that accounts for this dark surfacing. And just saying "Well, it's probably a KBO, that explains it" doesn't explain a thing for me... show me where KBOs follow a pattern of having dark, reddish surfaces and explain how they *all* got surfaced that way, and maybe I'll start to consider it. But until then, Occam's Razor tells me that any airless icy body that was born anywhere near Saturn ought to have a bright icy surface, and that any significant darkening must be an overlay on top of that icy surface.

-the other Doug


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“The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Posts in this topic
- SFJCody   Iapetus - Black on white or white on black?   Sep 14 2007, 07:40 AM
- - ngunn   I think the responses you offer are inadequate. Gl...   Sep 14 2007, 08:03 AM
- - ugordan   Where's the option "Black on White - blac...   Sep 14 2007, 08:04 AM
- - akuo   Is this a Michael Jackson song? Oh Iapetus, I wou...   Sep 14 2007, 08:15 AM
- - volcanopele   I would prefer a both option: white on black in so...   Sep 14 2007, 08:54 AM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (volcanopele @ Sep 14 2007, 01:54 A...   Sep 14 2007, 04:15 PM
- - Juramike   (Objects collide) Object one: "Heeeey, you ...   Sep 14 2007, 03:41 PM
- - nprev   ...of course, in the Family Guy parody of this com...   Sep 14 2007, 04:00 PM
- - Michael Capobianco   I have to choose white on black on white - black e...   Sep 14 2007, 04:33 PM
- - lyford   The only thing that I can say is that after readin...   Sep 14 2007, 05:00 PM
- - MarcF   It was not a good idea to go to vacation far from ...   Sep 15 2007, 04:26 PM
- - tasp   I would pick transparent material everywhere, keye...   Sep 15 2007, 04:59 PM
|- - David   QUOTE (tasp @ Sep 15 2007, 04:59 PM) I wo...   Sep 15 2007, 08:34 PM
|- - ugordan   QUOTE (David @ Sep 15 2007, 09:34 PM) whe...   Sep 15 2007, 09:38 PM
|- - David   QUOTE (ugordan @ Sep 15 2007, 09:38 PM) C...   Sep 16 2007, 03:09 AM
- - tasp   Here is another 'negative' print of Iapetu...   Sep 16 2007, 04:00 AM
- - edstrick   I get an overwhelming impression that the white an...   Sep 16 2007, 05:23 AM
- - Bill Harris   You're right, Ed, this is all very mysterious....   Sep 16 2007, 10:41 AM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (Bill Harris @ Sep 16 2007, 03:41 A...   Sep 17 2007, 05:22 AM
- - dvandorn   I agree, Bill -- the distribution of dark material...   Sep 16 2007, 02:37 PM
|- - David   QUOTE (dvandorn @ Sep 16 2007, 02:37 PM) ...   Sep 16 2007, 05:32 PM
|- - dvandorn   QUOTE (David @ Sep 16 2007, 12:32 PM) Wha...   Sep 17 2007, 04:48 PM
|- - nprev   QUOTE (dvandorn @ Sep 17 2007, 09:48 AM) ...   Sep 17 2007, 05:56 PM
- - tasp   I was wondering about those streamlined (not quite...   Sep 16 2007, 05:38 PM
|- - volcanopele   QUOTE (tasp @ Sep 16 2007, 10:38 AM) I wa...   Sep 17 2007, 05:18 AM
- - ilbasso   Seeing that old picture of Stevie Wonder made me t...   Sep 16 2007, 05:45 PM
- - tasp   I can't help but think in the initial flush of...   Sep 17 2007, 04:10 AM
|- - David   QUOTE (tasp @ Sep 17 2007, 04:10 AM) I ca...   Sep 17 2007, 06:10 AM
- - tasp   Hyperion.   Sep 17 2007, 01:53 PM
|- - David   QUOTE (tasp @ Sep 17 2007, 01:53 PM) Hype...   Sep 17 2007, 02:32 PM
|- - ngunn   QUOTE (David @ Sep 17 2007, 03:32 PM) no ...   Sep 17 2007, 04:00 PM
- - nprev   Like oDoug, I too noticed the apparent "dunin...   Sep 17 2007, 04:27 PM
|- - dvandorn   QUOTE (nprev @ Sep 17 2007, 11:27 AM) Lik...   Sep 17 2007, 04:59 PM
- - tasp   Here is some more 'ponding' to contemplate...   Sep 17 2007, 05:37 PM
- - tasp   And the comparison. {I suppose it would be nice...   Sep 17 2007, 05:39 PM
- - tasp   Crikey, there is something hinky going on tweenst ...   Sep 17 2007, 05:43 PM
- - tasp   We note earth's moon to have an orbit about ea...   Sep 17 2007, 06:08 PM
- - nprev   True, but Earth's Moon is thought to be an art...   Sep 17 2007, 06:12 PM
- - alan   There was a paper a couple of years ago linking Ti...   Sep 17 2007, 07:42 PM
- - edstrick   What can I say.. just look at this d__n stuff... A...   Sep 18 2007, 08:24 AM
|- - TheChemist   QUOTE (edstrick @ Sep 18 2007, 11:24 AM) ...   Sep 20 2007, 01:34 PM
|- - ugordan   QUOTE (TheChemist @ Sep 20 2007, 03:34 PM...   Sep 20 2007, 01:45 PM
- - dvandorn   OK -- I understand your conclusion, here. But I s...   Sep 18 2007, 01:46 PM
|- - The Messenger   QUOTE (dvandorn @ Sep 18 2007, 07:46 AM) ...   Sep 19 2007, 05:20 AM
|- - ugordan   QUOTE (dvandorn @ Sep 18 2007, 03:46 PM) ...   Sep 20 2007, 02:04 PM
- - TheChemist   Ugordan, I think that I see wide openings (holes) ...   Sep 20 2007, 02:00 PM
- - Bill Harris   RE: edstrick and the chemist, posts 40 & 42-- ...   Sep 20 2007, 04:26 PM
|- - David   QUOTE (Bill Harris @ Sep 20 2007, 04:26 P...   Sep 20 2007, 04:51 PM
|- - ustrax   Tilmann Denk's "vote" at spacEurope:...   Sep 24 2007, 04:35 PM
- - dvandorn   After seeing some of the contrast-enhanced images ...   Sep 24 2007, 04:59 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (dvandorn @ Sep 24 2007, 09:59 AM) ...   Sep 24 2007, 08:03 PM
|- - David   QUOTE (JRehling @ Sep 24 2007, 08:03 PM) ...   Sep 24 2007, 09:24 PM
- - Bill Harris   My first, and continuing, impression of the dicho...   Sep 24 2007, 10:04 PM
- - David   QUOTE (Bill Harris @ Sep 24 2007, 10:04 P...   Sep 25 2007, 02:48 AM


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