Wednesday 30 January 2013

Hyperion

One of these images is a moon of Saturn, one is a fossil coral?
Hyperion is one of Saturn's moons, highly irregular in shape and rather intriguing.  I was looking through the NASA Cassini images and realised how much one of my many fossils resembled Hyperion.  I thought I would place images of of both side by side for all to see!  Guess which is which.

Hyperion is the largest known irregular body in the solar system. Its average diameter is 270 kilometres but being potato shaped its best described by dimensions along three axes (410x260x220 km).

Many of the crater walls are bright which suggests an abundance of water the crater floors are dark with a red colouration.

Hyperion is the rock on the right.

Hyperion

Discovery                                 
Discovered by
Discovery date16 September 1848
Designations
Alternative namesSaturn VII
AdjectiveHyperionian
Orbital characteristics
Semi-major axis1,481,009 km[a]
Eccentricity0.1230061[1]
Orbital period21.276 d
Inclination0.43° (to Saturn's equator)[2][3]
Satellite ofSaturn
Physical characteristics
Dimensions360.2×266×205.4 km[4])
Mean radius135.00±4.00 km[4]
Mass0.56199±0.005×1019 kg[4]
Mean density0.544±0.050 g/cm3[4]
Equatorial surface gravity0.017–0.021 m/s2 depending on location[4]
Escape velocity45–99 m/s depending on location.[5]
Rotation periodchaotic
Axial tiltvariable
Albedo0.3[6]
Temperature93 K (−180 C)[7]
Apparent magnitude14.1[8]
Credits to NASA JPL and Wikipedia

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