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Cassini reveals two faces of Iapetus

Michael Sheils

Iapetus, the ying-yang moon 

Am I the only one thinking of a giant ying-yang symbol in space, perhaps it's a message our undercover dolphin overloads have sent us?

Tim Parker

Link to September shots 

http://ciclops.org/ir_index.php?id=27

Sure is purty ain't she ?

Anonymous Coward

Not everything in back and white... 

2008 Guinness advert ahoy!

J

To me... 

It's the Oreo moon! If our own is made of cheese, why not?

Ashley Pomeroy

Buggy G Riphead 

Iapetus, or Future Sound of London album artwork circa 1994? You decide.

Luther Blissett

"plenty here to keep many scientists busy for many years" 

Busy doing what exactly?

Parkinson's Law - work expands to fill the time available.

Paul Townsend

Black and white 

Either something black has crashed onto an otherwise white Iapetus (or vice versa) or it is two different moons that collided and stuck together.

And did Cassini remain in Safe Mode for six more reboots before coming back to normal? Must have done eventually because the pics don't have "Safe Mode" in each corner.

TS

Should have named it Lokai 

It's probably been hiding in our solar system for 50,000 years. We need to keep a lookout in case a white and black moon comes looking for it.

Nick Leverton

Unofficial pics 

Including brief but stunning animation of the mountain belt flypast:

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001131/

davide

about a real as a cheese moon! 

how come NASA always has a problem when sending crucial pictures like when flying over Cydonia? The data link breaks down... not to mention their preventive lack of color. Arthur, say something! Guess you already did in your novel, Space Odyssey. Ciao to all, may the truth be known!

Steve Roper

Finally get a look at Arthur's Moon 

As I was looking into one of those inky black blobs in the white section, I thought, "Oh my God, it's full of stars!" Or is that just because I didn't get any sleep last night? ;)

Anonymous Coward

@ Michael Sheils 

How does one overload a dolphin overlord?

"....perhaps it's a message our undercover dolphin overloads have sent us?"

Nick Leverton

More pics 

It looks for all the world^WSaturn as if a gob of soot hit a marshmallow:

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001136/

MacroRodent

Wrong explanation 

"galactic cosmic ray hit"

No, it was just the stargate opening and closing. The probe was caught by the Black Monolith in the middle of the white are, shipped to the aliens for examination, taken apart, put together, and returned back to the same time and space. Sorry for the small glitch in reassembly that caused it to enter safe mode...