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Iapetus

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Encyclopedia of Astrobiology

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Definition

Iapetus was discovered in 1671 by Giovanni Domenico Cassini; it is the outermost midsized icy satellite of Saturn. Its distance to Saturn is 3,560,000 km (or 59 Saturnian radii), and its diameter is 1,440 km. Its density is 1.02 g/cm3, indicating a very low rock/ice ratio. Iapetus is unique in its albedo distribution, which is very low on Iapetus’ leading side in its orbit around Saturn and ten times higher on the opposite side. It has been proposed that the dark material could be due to the permanent accretion of matter coming from the neighboring satellite Phoebe, which is also very dark. Another possible explanation is that the low albedo of Iapetus could be a result of organic deposits formed from methane ice impacted by dust particles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LESIA – Bâtiment ISO (n°17), Observatoire de Paris – Section de Meudon, 5, Place Jules Janssen, 92195, Meudon, France

    Therese Encrenaz

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  1. Therese Encrenaz
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Correspondence to Therese Encrenaz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  2. Labo. d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB), Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers (OASU), Floirac CX, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  3. Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Inst. Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain

    José Cernicharo Quintanilla

  4. Geophysical Lab., Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Henderson James Cleaves

  5. Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    William M. Irvine

  6. Dépt. Sc. de la Terre et de l’Atmosphère, Université du Québec, Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Daniele Pinti

  7. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES) DPI/E2U, Paris CX, France

    Michel Viso

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Encrenaz, T. (2014). Iapetus. In: Amils, R., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_770-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_770-3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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