Iapetus="manufactured spaceship"

Originally posted by eyewitness86
Forget where the info came from: As long as the pictures are deemed genuine, and these are, then HOW do you skeptics explain that 60,000 foot high 800 mile wide ridge running around the whole thing..or at least a great part of it for sure.??

How do you explain the ridge that runs down half of OUR planet?

Mid-Atlantic Ridge

How? That CANNOT be the result of some volcanic something or other..no way.That has never been seen in all of nature and all of known creation. It HAD to be the result of some gigantic mechanical operation , the scale of which simply boggles the human perseptions because of the scales of things we are accustomed to.

Are you a geologist to make that sort of statement? Have you seen ALL of creation? There's absolutely no way for such a structure to have formed naturally?

Here's my hypothesis -- Iapetus used to be two moons. During the formation of the solar system, the moons collided. That's one way for the ridge to form naturally.

Hardly a constructive argument eyewitness86, more a sort of rant filled with fanciful speculations.

I don't know why it seems to bother you true believers that we skeptics look for a rational explanation first, before running to the hills screaming "They're Here". Try "thinking inside the box" first then you can have a go at thinking "outside the box" (oh these tired cliches...) The theory that the ridge could be a remnant of the oblate shape of the young Iapetus is just as valid as the spaceship theory in the absence of further information surley?

I gues we shall just have to agree to disagree as politley as possible...



[edit on 16-11-2007 by timelike]

Originally posted by Beachcoma

Are you a geologist to make that sort of statement? Have you seen ALL of creation? There's absolutely no way for such a structure to have formed naturally?

That was my thought Beachcoma but I didn't want to say it lest we appear provocative!!!

Here's my hypothesis -- Iapetus used to be two moons. During the formation of the solar system, the moons collided. That's one way for the ridge to form naturally.

This is a good theory, and the one which I support!

[edit on 16-11-2007 by timelike]

But, nobody knows for sure- one theory is that Iapetus ( as an oldest moon in our solar system) was formed from radioactive isotopes, meaning that it was pretty hot - and that after hot faze - it contracted very fast, and the wall was formed.

This possible explanation is also necessary in order to explain a very slow rotation of this moon ( 79 days ), because otherwise, how is possible that something that spin so slow, could have such gigantic bulge?

But - it is really strange moon....no gray color , only black and white, is something underneath causing this...very interesting.

reply to post by blue bird


Bluebird! I like this strict science look at this. Since it's rotation is that long (70+ days) and Saturn's trip around the Sun is about 10 hours (9/07 Space.com update) that might explain this odd moon.

This Space.com article brings up some interesting points:

"Another surprise is that the radar system sees Iapetus as a uniform object, meaning no difference between the light and dark sides," Black said.

That could mean that on the dark side there is merely a thin coat of some darkening material over the ammonia-laden water ice, like an inch of dirt atop clean snow, Black said.

"A thin coating would not have much effect on the radar reflection, which sees the underlying ice, and therefore both sides would look the same in radar but differently optically," he said. "This interpretation depends somewhat on what the dark material is made of, but we are not able to answer that question."

Strange Shadows: Saturn's Two-Faced Moon
www.space.com...

For some reason this makes me think of our moon in a more conspiratorial tone.

Originally posted by timelike

Originally posted by Beachcoma

Are you a geologist to make that sort of statement? Have you seen ALL of creation? There's absolutely no way for such a structure to have formed naturally?

That was my thought Beachcoma but I didn't want to say it lest we appear provocative!!!

That's the problem with posting stuff on the internet -- you can't hear the other person's intonation. I certainly wasn't trying to be provocative; just posing valid questions to what I too agree seem like a rant.

Here's my hypothesis -- Iapetus used to be two moons. During the formation of the solar system, the moons collided. That's one way for the ridge to form naturally.

This is a good theory, and the one which I support!

Thank you, but it's a hypothesis, not a theory. Until it can be proven through a repeat observation or some fancy math, it cannot become a theory. Let's not abuse that word more than it already has been

Anyway, here's another possible explanation by an astronomer, one that explains both the ridge and the two-toned nature of the moon:

Have we cracked Saturn's walnut?

Freire, of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, thinks otherwise. Because both the ridge and the dark coating are on the same side of the moon, he thinks that they are linked. Freire argues that both features formed when the moon collided with the edge of one of Saturn's rings a long time ago. "I was looking at the Cassini pictures, and the idea suggested itself to me," he says.

According to Freire, debris from the ring smashed into a narrow region along the moon's equator, piling up to create the ridge. Consistent with his claim that the moon only grazed the ring is the fact that the ridge does not extend over the entire hemisphere. If the moon had fully entered the ring, a ridge would have formed over a 180-degree arc of the equator, he argues.

I also remember reading an article not too long ago that offers a good possible explanation on how the moon can be black on one side and white on the other. Sadly I remember neither the place I read it nor the title of the article. If I manage to track it down, I'll post the link here.

Edit: it looks like anhinga has found the article I mentioned. Good job, pal

[edit on 16-11-2007 by Beachcoma]

I think that any aliens who were clever enough to build an entire moon would probably have the technology to make sure they didn't leave an obvious "seam" in it. I mean, what's it supposed to be, then? Sloppy glue work?

Originally posted by Beachcoma
it's a hypothesis, not a theory. Until it can be proven through a repeat observation or some fancy math, it cannot f it was an idea without either of these then it would be a conjecture. Still each to his own!

reply to post by timelike


You're absolutely right! I was still kind of sore from reading counter-arguments to evolution or global warming that keep on trying to emphasize that the word theory is analogous to the word 'conjecture' or 'hypothesis'.