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  Poison Ivy
Spacecraft Cassini's new photos reveal the
sponge-like surface on one of Saturn's moons.

H
Place your cursor over the slideshow for captions.
ave you ever seen a 250-mile-wide bath sponge? Well, take a look at Hyperion, one of Saturn's many moons. Recent photos of the hamburger-shaped moon reveal a strange world covered with large and small craters. The photos were taken by high-tech cameras aboard the spacecraft Cassini, which has been exploring Saturn and its moons since 2004.

Scientists studying the photos have recently identified something surprising: dark, reddish material on Hyperion's surface. They believe that the substance may be organic material, including combinations of the chemical elements hydrogen and carbon. That's important because all life, including human life, is built from organic building blocks.

"Organic material is the key to understanding life in our solar system. When we try to understand how life formed on Earth and whether life could form on other planets, this is one of the things we look at," says Dr. Amanda Hendrix. She is a planetary scientist who works on the Cassini project. So, how did such material get on a lifeless moon circling Saturn? Scientists suspect it was deposited by meteors. "Craters on Hyperion are the result of meteoroid impact," said Dr. Hendrix. "A meteoroid is the leftover material from the formation of planets."

The largest crater on Hyperion is 75 miles across and 6 miles deep! But even though Hyperion looks like a sponge, it most likely doesn't feel like one. Cassini has found that the moon is made mainly of water ice.

Cassini may show scientists many more surprises. It is scheduled to orbit Saturn until next year, but NASA scientists also hope to extend the spacecraft's mission until 2010. Unlike Earth, which has only one moon, Saturn has 48. The extra two years will give scientists an opportunity to learn more about Saturn's many moons. "This mission has given us a lot of answers but has also given us a lot of new questions," says Hendrix.

Super Saturn Stats:
1. Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and the second largest in our solar system.
2. Saturn is mostly made of gases. People would not be able to stand on Saturn.
3. Saturn has seven rings made up of ice, dust, and rock. They are more than 124,000 miles long, but very thin.
4. Saturn is the windiest planet in our solar system. It has winds of up to 1,100 miles per hour.
5. Saturn's largest moon is Titan. It is larger than the planets Mercury and Venus.
6. Hyperion is one of the only oval objects in our solar system. This means that it is egg-shaped instead of round like Earth's moon.
7. Hyperion and 16 other moons of Saturn are named after the Titans, or giants, of Greek mythology.

Think About It!

1. Why do you think there aren't any astronauts on the Cassini mission?
2. Why might scientists be interested in organic material in space?
Test your Saturn smarts with our solar system crossword.


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