How Saturn's Moon Iapetus Got Its Ridge

it's only been five years since the arrival of high-resolution Cassini Mission images of Saturn's bizarre moon Iapetus that the international planetary community has pondered the unique walnut shape of the large (735 kilometer radius) body, considered by many to be one of the most astonishing features in the solar system. And there's no consensus as to how a mysterious large ridge that covers more than 75 percent of the moon's equator was formed. It's been a tough nut to crack.

www.sciencedaily.com

According to William McKinnon and Andrew Dombard, space-sciences profs in America, the curious ridge results from the long-ago breakup of a satellite body in orbit about Iapetus – a moon of a moon. "Some people have proposed that the ridge might have been caused by a string of volcanic eruptions, or maybe it's a set of faults," says McKinnon. "But to align it all perfectly like that – there is just no similar example in the solar system to point to such a thing."

www.theregister.co.uk

The new model proposes that the rings are primordial, formed from the same events that left Titan as Saturn's sole large satellite, " says Canup. "The implication is that the rings and the Saturnian moons interior to and including Tethys share a coupled origin, and are the last remnants of a lost companion satellite to Titan." During its extended mission, the Cassini spacecraft will measure the rings' current mass and will indirectly measure the pollution rate of the rings.

ScienceDaily

Iapetus Image:


So from what they are saying is it was bombarded by another satellite debris ring from some type of gravitational receding long ago particles colliding along the equator creating a groove that over time was eventually filled in hence the ridge...Interesting.

I've studied this 12 mile high "ridge" for a time now, and I can tell you this isn't the result of "nature". Go research it yourself, and I promise this will be an anomaly you won't easily get passed..

Look Familiar?



Interesting Video On This Anomaly: www.youtube.com...

Here is a very detailed and professional analysis of Saturn's odd moon by Enterprise Mission.

www.enterprisemission.com...

I HIGHLY recommend anyone interested check it out, as it's something that truly is unexplainable.

reply to post by Tvision


I am not very familiar with Iapetus until recently have I come across information/theories explaining the ridge along the equator.

I am definitely interested in further research about this moon along with the rest of Saturn's satellites , the explanations and theories surrounding just how the ridge was formed.
thank you for the video and response.

ETA:I believe you may be referring to Mimas another Saturn moon that has been popularly linked to the "deathstar" in star wars lore.

Mimas (pronounced MY muss or MEE muss, adjective Mimantean) is an inner moon of Saturn (the innermost of the major moons) and looks somewhat like a bull's eye if viewed from a certain angle. The feature that causes this is the huge 140-kilometer-wide (88-mile) Herschel Crater, which is one-third the diameter of Mimas. If the object striking Mimas had been larger or been moving faster, Mimas would probably have been "disrupted" into pieces that might have collapsed back into a new moon or might have scattered into another ring of Saturn.

Solarviews

According to William McKinnon and Andrew Dombard, space-sciences profs in America, the curious ridge results from the long-ago breakup of a satellite body in orbit about Iapetus – a moon of a moon. "Some people have proposed that the ridge might have been caused by a string of volcanic eruptions, or maybe it's a set of faults," says McKinnon. "But to align it all perfectly like that – there is just no similar example in the solar system to point to such a thing."

This statement is pure speculation, fantasy of astronomers..... Nothing proved!
Some scientists......

reply to post by Arken


Agreed.
all is theory and conjecture until proven otherwise.

When I first saw the photos..ans i look for Cassini photos every single day.
I though the ridge was a result of cooling of the interior.
At some point the surface crust could not withstand the shrinkage from cooling and outgassing.
the interior was smaller than the exterior. The crunch..the crust gave way at the seam and became pronounced over the surrounding terrain.