Sunday, August 7, 2011

Iapetus Flag, Moon of Saturn

Flag of Iapetus
Outer Moon of Saturn


Iapetus is another unusual moon orbiting Saturn. It came to our awareness in 1671 upon the studies of Giovanni Domenico Cassini of Genoa.

Like its parent planet Saturn, Iepetus has a striking two tone black and white contrast that gives it a stunning beauty. In addition its great ridge or wall of Iapetus gives it an extraordinary unusually geologic dimension.

Finally it's orbit is highly tilted, thus it qualifies in some sense as beyond a moon. Reason being since Pluto has a tilted orbit and is no longer a planet - Iapetus is in some sense also Dwarf Planet due to its inclined (tilted) orbit relative to Saturn.

Flag of Iapetus
during a Saturn Rise with Titan in the distance

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