[X] My Assistant

[TritonAntares]

First of all, again the two existing encounter animations:
Animation 1
Animation 2

Nearest approach:

Resolution about 3,6 km/pxl.

And some pre-info about upcoming encounters:
2006 Mar 25 to Apr 18: Apr 11 - 602.412 km; 14-3.6 km/pxl; medium to high phase, southern hemisphere as crescent
2006 Jun 17 to 27: Jun 23 - 1.343.000 km; 14-8.1 km/pxl; medium to low phase, sub-Saturn hemisphere
2006 Sep 08 to 09: Sep 02 - 1.816.000 km; ~20 km/pxl; zero phase (3 to 0.05 deg), sub-Saturn
2006 Nov 26: 1.997.000 km; 12 km/pxl; very low phase, sub-Saturn
2007 Feb 12 to 15: Feb 14 - 2.249.000 km; ~14 km/pxl; sub-Saturn; very low phase and eclipse
2007 Apr 14: 2.256.000 km
2007 Jun 22: 1.817.000 km; ~14 km/pxl; med. phase, trailing side
2007 Sep 03 to 09: 8.6-0.7 km/pxl; very high phase, western Cassini Regio
2007 Sep 10: 480-10-540 m/pxl; targeted flyby, trailing side
2007 Sep 11 to 17: 0.7-7.1 km/pxl; low phase (~33 deg) trailing side
2007 Sep 27: 15 km/pxl, low phase sub-Saturn+trailing side
2007 Nov 26: 1.371.000 km; 8.2 km/pxl; very high phase, north pole, possibly graylight
2008 Feb 13: 2.045.000 km; 14 km/pxl; high phase, north pole, possibly graylight

Days around Sep 10 belong to the targeted fly-by in about 1000 km distance,
others will only be some OPNAVs.

Bye.

[Rob Pinnegar]

This distant flyby could turn out to be pretty interesting. There look to be some interesting gradations in the colour of Cassini Regio in Iapetus south-leading quarter-sphere (demihemisphere?).

In a few of those distant shots TritonAntares has posted, you can see some of the bellyband mountains on the limb. Amazing how tall those things are.

[Michael Capobian...]

In a few of those distant shots TritonAntares has posted, you can see some of the bellyband mountains on the limb. Amazing how tall those things are.

I can't see the bellyband, but a few of these shots do show the Moat's central peak very clearly on the limb.

Michael

[Rob Pinnegar]

I can't see the bellyband, but a few of these shots do show the Moat's central peak very clearly on the limb.

Hmmm. You might be right about that one, Michael. I just sort of assumed that the peak on the limb was one of the bellyband peaks. It could very well be the Moat's central peak instead.

[TritonAntares]

In a few of those distant shots TritonAntares has posted, you can see some of the bellyband mountains on the limb. Amazing how tall those things are.

I can't see the bellyband, but a few of these shots do show the Moat's central peak very clearly on the limb.

Hmmm. You might be right about that one, Michael. I just sort of assumed that the peak on the limb was one of the bellyband peaks. It could very well be the Moat's central peak instead.

I always wondered about the trace of the bellyband in Iapetus eastern hemisphere.
It's so obvious in Steve Albers map:


I marked the supposed course of the bellyband in the above mentioned region south of the 'Snowman' of an enlarged map.
The central peak of 'Snowman A' is also encircled.


Compare with this image taken on Jan. 22, 2006, at a distance of approximately 1.3 million km:

You can easily see the enormous height of the Moat's central mountain.

But there is no hint due shadow casting for large mountains at the marked line of the supposed bellyband path,
but south of it seems to be a huge ridge (ellipse) casting a shadow to NNW like the inner crater rim of 'Snowman A'.
Therefore the bellyband in Iapetus eastern hemisphere must be quite low, if it exists at all
and this line in Steve Albers map is artifical there.


Bye.

[TritonAntares]

Hello!

The ridge you highlight appears to be part of an interesting crosshatching of ridges to the south, although it's very hard to make out what's going on at these low resolutions.

You mean this mysterious doublecross structure:


What is this?
Tectonic rifts and ridges caused by the 'Snowman'?
Something connected with the equatorial ridge?
Or...?

Bye.

[ugordan]

You mean this mysterious doublecross structure:


What is this?
Tectonic rifts and ridges caused by the 'Snowman'?
Something connected with the equatorial ridge?
Or...?

This reminds me of the discussion on You-Know-What looking hill on Mars that was identified in Viking imagery years ago.
Seems that you're really trying to pull out too much information out of such a low-res view. For all we know, higher resolution might make this nothing like a double-cross.
Even now, that lower horizontal line you marked seems to end in a small crater on the right (you did extend it into the crater itself) , while the upper line follows its outer rim. The right vertical line thus outlines the interior wall of the crater. Human eye often likes to see patterns when there aren't any.