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ODYSSEY -- ADVENTURES IN SCIENCE!

Mystery Photo

What in the world is it?

Mystery Photo

Don’t peek at the answer until you’ve given this a good try! Then, scroll down a bit and the truth will be revealed to you.
























NASA



What in the world is it?

Attack of the killer potato? A moldy M&M;? Well, this garish image is an extreme false-color view of Hyperion, the seventh satellite of Saturn. It is a composite image created with a special narrow-angle camera aboard the Cassini spacecraft on June 28, 2006. At the time, the spacecraft was at a distance of approximately 294,000 kilometers (183,000 miles) from Hyperion.

To create this false-color view, ultraviolet, green and infrared images were combined into a single picture that isolates and maps regional color differences. This was then superposed over a clear-filter image that preserves the relative brightness across the body.

The image, in essence is a color-coded map that displays how debris from impact are blasted across the surface of the tumbling moon. The origin of the color differences is not yet understood, but may be caused by subtle differences in the surface composition or the sizes of grains making up the icy surface material on Hyperion, which measures 280 kilometers, or 174 miles across.


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