Spacecraft Cassini completed its closest flyby of Saturn's odd moon Iapetus on Monday, NASA announced on Tuesday.
The spacecraft flew about 1,640 kilometers from Iapetus' surface and is returning amazing views of the bizarre moon. NASA released the latest 500 raw, or unprocessed, Iapetus images taken by Cassini at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory website on Tuesday.
Walnut-shaped Iapetus has a ridge of surprisingly large mountains -- the so-called "belly-band" -- that lies directly on top of the equator. The moon also has a distinct difference in the brightness of its leading and trailing hemispheres, one as bright as snow and the other dark as tar.
The irregular shape, the mountain ridge and Iapetus' brightness contrast are among the key mysteries scientists are trying to solve.
In coming weeks, scientists will be analyzing data from multiple instruments. Some results of that analysis will be presented at a planetary science conference in Orlando, Fla., in mid-October.
Source: Xinhua
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