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To: cogitator

That's a moon ? Looks like small chunk of rock pockmarked with asteroid impact craters. Doesn't even look round ??


5 posted on 09/30/2005 11:31:32 AM PDT by farlander
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To: farlander

Hyperion was always known not to be round, but there has never been a high resolution picture until now.


7 posted on 09/30/2005 11:33:10 AM PDT by Crazieman (6-23-2005, Establishment of the United Socialist States of America)
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To: farlander

Generally speaking, celestial bodies have to exceed a certain size before they become round beneath the force of their own gravity.

Hyperion is too small for this process to occur.


14 posted on 09/30/2005 11:34:57 AM PDT by Heavyrunner (Socialize this.)
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To: farlander
Doesn't even look round ??

It's not round -- in fact, its rotation is chaotic, meaning that it doesn't rotate around a defined spin axis.

Found this on a fact sheet:

Hyperion is one of Saturn's smaller satellites and its elliptical orbit lies between that of Titan and Iapetus. Hyperion's low density indicates that the satellite is mainly composed of water-ice with a small amount of rocky material. The surface is covered with a darker material causing Hyperion to have a lower albedo compared to other icy moons.

Hyperion's shape is very irregular and it has been suggested that the satellite once was part of a larger object that was fractured by an impact in the distant past. Hyperion's surface also shows signs of heavy cratering with the largest crater approximately 120 km in diameter.

The orientation of Hyperion's axis of rotation is chaotic and unpredictable. The cause for the chaotic rotation could be due to the proximity of the large moon Titan, the ellipticity of Hyperions orbit and the 3:4 resonance between the orbital period of Titan and Hyperion.

17 posted on 09/30/2005 11:35:31 AM PDT by cogitator
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To: farlander

Not massive enough to be round. Reminds me of a wasps' nest. Outstanding photo.


47 posted on 09/30/2005 11:57:00 AM PDT by kenth (Only twenty thousand marched against the U.S. in D.C. today, but it smelled like half a million.)
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To: farlander

Yea, looks like a captive asteroid or something...


63 posted on 09/30/2005 12:33:51 PM PDT by HamiltonJay
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