This extreme false-color view of Hyperion shows color variation across the
impact-blasted surface of the tumbling moon.
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 "color map" was then superposed over a clear-filter
image that preserves the relative brightness across the body.
The combination of the color map and brightness image shows how colors
vary across Hyperion's surface in relation to geologic features. 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 (280 kilometers, or 174
miles across).
The images used to create this view were acquired using the Cassini
spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 28, 2006 at a distance of
approximately 294,000 kilometers (183,000 miles) from Hyperion. Image
scale is 2 kilometers (1 mile) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European
Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages
the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The
Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and
assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space
Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The Cassini imaging team
homepage is at http://ciclops.org.