Planetary Society logo
  • “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan

Bruce Murray Space Image Library

High-resolution global view of Iapetus’ trailing hemisphere

High-resolution global view of Iapetus’ trailing hemisphere
High-resolution global view of Iapetus’ trailing hemisphere Cassini took the images for this view across all of Saturn's main rings with its wide-angle camera on 17 April 2009. A shadow of one of the moons (perhaps Mimas?) is being cast on the rings. NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI / mosaic by Gordan Ugarkovic

The surface is stained with the dark material that covers Iapetus' leading side. The dark material fills some fissures, appears on the flanks of large basins, and even falls in linear chains in the upper left of this image. Also noteworthy are two enormous, unnamed, overlapping impact basins at the lower left. The enlarged version is only half the full resolution.

This version is only half the full resolution.