Iapetus
These two global images of Iapetus show the extreme brightness dichotomy on the surface of this peculiar Saturnian moon. The left-hand panel shows the moon's leading hemisphere and the right-hand panel shows the moon's trailing side. While low and mid latitudes of the leading side exhibit a surface almost as dark as charcoal, broad tracts of the trailing side are almost as bright as snow. The dark terrain covers about 40 percent of the surface and is named Cassini Regio. These images were compiled from multiple pictures taken by the Cassini spacecraft while in orbit around Saturn.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Image Number: PIA11690
Date: December 10, 2009
Iapetus
These two global images of Iapetus show the extreme brightness dichotomy on the surface of this peculiar Saturnian moon. The left-hand panel shows the moon's leading hemisphere and the right-hand panel shows the moon's trailing side. While low and mid latitudes of the leading side exhibit a surface almost as dark as charcoal, broad tracts of the trailing side are almost as bright as snow. The dark terrain covers about 40 percent of the surface and is named Cassini Regio. These images were compiled from multiple pictures taken by the Cassini spacecraft while in orbit around Saturn.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Image Number: PIA11690
Date: December 10, 2009