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Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Saturn's Hyperion: A Moon with Odd Craters
NASA ^
| June 30, 2013
| (see photo credit)
Posted on 06/30/2013 9:00:49 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: What lies at the bottom of Hyperion's strange craters? Nobody's sure. To help find out, the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn swooped past the sponge-textured moon in 2005 and 2010 and took images of unprecedented detail. An image from the 2005 pass, shown above in false color, shows a remarkable world strewn with strange craters and a generally odd surface. The slight differences in color likely show differences in surface composition. At the bottom of most craters lies some type of unknown dark material. Inspection of the image shows bright features indicating that the dark material might be only tens of meters thick in some places. Hyperion is about 250 kilometers across, rotates chaotically, and has a density so low that it might house a vast system of caverns inside.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; astronomy; hyperion; science
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To: SunkenCiv
Looks like it has barnacles on it.
21
posted on
06/30/2013 10:49:23 PM PDT
by
60Gunner
(Fight with your head high, or grovel with your head low.)
To: SunkenCiv
22
posted on
07/01/2013 12:26:51 AM PDT
by
Gefn
(More Cowbell please)
To: bimboeruption
"Looks like my bath sponge."
It definitely has the appearance of biological origin.
Maybe it's a cosmic virus. Or a bit of space coral .....
23
posted on
07/01/2013 12:47:13 AM PDT
by
shibumi
(Cover it with gas and set it on fire.)
To: cpdiii
My first guess would be that its largely made of fine dust like flour with low enough gravity that the craters don’t collapse.
24
posted on
07/01/2013 3:32:17 AM PDT
by
cripplecreek
(REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
To: katana
I was thinking along those same lines. Every one of those holes could be made into a separate ecosystem if you cover them over with a film of some sort to protect the artificial environments inside. Unless of course it really is made of some kind of spongelike material.
25
posted on
07/01/2013 4:14:23 AM PDT
by
jespasinthru
(Proud member of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.)
To: Cronos
They were lucky it slept with its mouth open.
26
posted on
07/01/2013 3:48:54 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(McCain or Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
To: katana; jespasinthru; KevinDavis
If an invasion, it’s been danged slow getting here. Of course, that’s just my Earthcentered thinking there, maybe they have no interest in us.
27
posted on
07/01/2013 3:54:29 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(McCain or Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
To: null and void; Roccus; bimboeruption; laplata
28
posted on
07/01/2013 3:56:35 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(McCain or Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
To: cpdiii; BenLurkin; zot; The Cajun; Gefn; cripplecreek
It appears to be more like pumice; now I regret not seeing if NASA’s made density and mass measurements during a flyby.
29
posted on
07/01/2013 3:58:18 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(McCain or Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
To: Jack Hydrazine; kabumpo; doorgunner69; 60Gunner; shibumi
Could be, probably aren’t, but that would depend on what they’d live on, food wise.
30
posted on
07/01/2013 3:58:22 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(McCain or Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
To: SunkenCiv
Who's to say they're not already here?
31
posted on
07/01/2013 4:09:27 PM PDT
by
katana
(Just my opinions)
To: SunkenCiv
Thanks for all the neat posts, SunkenCiv!
32
posted on
07/01/2013 4:13:38 PM PDT
by
laplata
(Liberals don't get it. Their minds have been stolen.)
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