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The slim crescent of Iapetus looms before the Cassini spacecraft as it approaches the mysterious moon. Often likened to a walnut, the moons prominent equatorial ridge of towering mountains stands out in relief. The ridge is topped by a cratered plateau approximately 9 miles wide. Further west, the profile of the ridge changes from a long plateau to discrete peaks. The mosaic consists of four image footprints across the surface of Iapetus and was acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of 51,600 miles from the moon.

Credit: NASA/JPL/ESA.