Cassini Regio

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Photomosaic of Cassini images taken Dec. 31, 2004, showing the dark Cassini Regio, large craters, and the newly discovered equatorial ridge

Cassini Regio is the enigmatic dark area that covers half of Saturn's moon Iapetus. It is named after Giovanni Cassini, the discoverer of Iapetus.

The nature of the material that caused the extensive discoloration of Cassini Regio is not known, but it appears to be thick, and may be the result of a form of cryo-vulcanism. It is hoped that the NASA Cassini probe, newly arrived at Saturn, will clarify the nature of Cassini Regio during its forthcoming close approaches of Iapetus.

In 2004, it was discovered that a 1,300 km long ridge of 12km high mountains runs down the centre of Cassini Regio, almost perfectly following Iapetus's equator. The origin of this extremely unusual feature is as yet unknown.

For more details, see the main article on Iapetus.

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