Click on the image for movie of Saturn's moon Hyperion appears
to tumble toward Cassini in this movie that shows variations in
color across the moon's surface. The movie was created from 14
frames and represents about 12 hours as the spacecraft
encountered Hyperion in early 2006. Most of the observable
motion is due to the spacecraft's trajectory during the flyby.
The dark areas in the bottoms of craters are seen on all parts
of Hyperion. To create the false-color view in each frame,
ultraviolet, green and infrared images were combined into a
single picture that isolates and maps regional color
differences. This "color map" was then superimposed over a
clear-filter image that preserves the relative brightness across
the body. The combination of color map and brightness image
shows how colors vary across Hyperion's surface. 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. Hype