Astronomy and Space

Equatorial ridge on Iapetus

Iapetus, Saturn's third-largest moon, has a 20 kilometer (12 mi) tall equatorial ridge. The ridge runs along most of Iapetus's equator, and is the third tallest mountain structure in the Solar System. First discovered by the Cassini probe in 2004, the ridge's origin is unknown. The equatorial ridge is split into three mountain ranges, Carcassone Montes, Toledo Montes, and Tortelosa Montes. There are bright areas on the sides of the equatorial ridge near Iapetus' bright trailing hemisphere, which were visible in Voyager 2 and were nicknamed the "Voyager Mountains"; they were eventually formally named Carcassone Montes.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸15 Lyncis
• ▸Anthony Hopkins
• ▸Georgy Babakin

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.