Hyperion, Icy Moon of Saturn

This movie sequence shows highlights of the Cassini spacecraft's Sept. 26, 2005, flyby of the odd, icy moon Hyperion.
The sequence begins with Cassini at a distance of 244,000 kilometers (152,000 miles) from Hyperion, with the irregularly-shaped moon not yet filling the frame. From this distance, Cassini can see that strange, dark-floored craters dot this little world.

As Cassini continues toward Hyperion, it becomes apparent that the steep sides of the giant impact feature at the center have a "fluted" appearance. The walls of this feature appear to have experienced landslides that have partly covered the craters lining it.

With Cassini at an altitude of 18,000 kilometers (11,000 miles) above Hyperion, the movie then zooms-in on the large crater called Meri, which itself contains several smaller craters. The rim of Meri possesses icy outcrops, while its floor is filled with landslide debris and some of the strange dark material. The image scale at this point is about 215 meters (700 feet) per pixel.

Cassini pans across a landscape shaped by eons of impacts, revealing the dark-floored craters at high resolution. The trip to Hyperion ends as the movie pans away from the battered moon's darkened limb. Hyperion is 266 kilometers (165 miles) across.

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• Hyperion
• Icy
• Moon
• of
• Saturn

[alien8ted]

As an advocate of Gastro-astronomy, I nominate the Saturnian moon Hyperion as the most edible-looking object in the known universe!

[bathalax]

yes, as what the description says.

HYPERION looks like a CORAL

[iGourry]

Saturn is fallen, am I too to fall? Am I to leave this haven of my rest, This cradle of my glory, this soft clime, This calm luxuriance of blissful light, These crystalline pavilions, and pure fanes, Of all my lucent empire? It is left Deserted, void, nor any haunt of mine. The blaze, the splendor, and the symmetry, I cannot see – but darkness, death and darkness.

[iambroom]

@alien8ted: That honor would actually go to Catherine Zeta-Jones. But I believe Hyperion is the winner in the "Bigger Than Yo Mama" category.

[MrPhacops]

Sponge in space

[boomminimanboom]

it looks like Hyperion, the Icy Moon of Saturn!

[bathalax]

looks like a coral

[canerdc]

I would say, those craters caused by Saturn's rings (the spray effect, considering the random rotation of the object). The fact that it is too far to Saturn's rings is the real mystery in my opinion. But I also have a theory over this, relevantly stable.

[mason104]

Cool! (sorry for the pun)

[killmachine6]

looks liuke an asteroid