COMPOSED MOSTLY OF WATER ICE, Iapetus' most striking features is an equatorial ridge, the dark colouring of its leading face and the light colour of its trailing face.
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| Iapetus |
The colours are likely caused by evaporation of water ice in the leading face leaving behind a dark residue.
It is not known how the equator ridge formed or why it runs along the equator of the moon.
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| Mystery of Iapetus |
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| View of Iapetus |
One possibility is that the young Iapetus was spinning faster then it is now, and if it cooled unevenly while slowing down, then the equator could have frozen before the polar regions, which might preserved the flattened spherical shape it had due to the speed of its rotation.
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