The HUGE, almost moon sized crater, could be a leftover from that same collision. It is almost too obvious that the white and grayish areas can be traced into a circle. Something had to force this circle to appear to be blown outwards. The impact is so gigantic and deep that the crater fills in with magma, much like a mare on our own moon.

Another crazy thing about Hyperion which supports this theory, is that it flips and spins wildly. If something huge did hit it in it’s younger stage, it would have to be something so strong that it makes the satellite flip and rotate at the same time.

As for the black bottoms: It only seems to be black on the deeper impacts. There is something, rock or otherwise, darker beneath the thin gray surface???

However, I also like the theory ACW had above of a comet that just had to stop and rest at at Saturn for a few million years.

Whatever it is it’s a facinating place.

Unless the “snowball” analogy is more than just an anology, no? It sure looks like an old, icy & dirty snowball.

My first thought was that it looks remarkably similar to the fist-sized chunk of coral I have on desk.

Either way, I find it wonderful that apparently very different processes can result in such similar looking attributes.

The big pic is GREAT desktop wallpaper. Thanks Phil.

I suppose the physcological impact of the crater is as big as the moon, right?

Very cool curiosity, BA. Thanks.

(I learned that word from http://phrontistery.info/)

I’ll go, where do I sign up?

I believe a manned mission to Titan may be achievable with a VASIMR-type propulsion system and a pitstop on Hyperion. The small moon orbits near Titan with a 3:2 resonance.

I ran a crude simulation some time ago of such a hypothetical mission. I imagined a small “mother ship� with a VASIMR rocket and a couple of landers with chemical rockets. I used power, mass and specific impulse levels from published specifications of what a future VASIMR rocket could have. Upon arrival in the Saturn system, the large scale-height and low molecular weight of the planet’s atmosphere would allow significant aerobraking for later insertion into Titan orbit.

After exploration of the Titan surface is complete, the mother ship and near-empty landers would move into Hyperion orbit. The landers are reused to mine and store ice from Hyperion’s surface. The nuclear reactor that is used to power the VASIMR rocket is then used to break down the ice into hydrogen and oxygen, which would then refuel the landers. Pure hydrogen would also be used to refuel the VASIMR rocket. The craft would then put itself on a trajectory toward Saturn. Very near the planet, and traveling very near escape velocity, the engines from the Titan landers burn to produce a delta V for a gravity assist. Saturn’s escape velocity is about 80,000 M.P.H., therefore a craft would leave the Saturn system at 41,000 M.P.H. after a 10,000 M.P.H. delta V near the planet.

The whole mission could last a few years.

It does look like a sponge. In fact, I have a sea sponge my mom bought in Florida that looks like this!

Now that you say that the black shadows are not shadows… I’m a bit less concerned. I knew the shadowing was off. Weird weird weird. I can’t wait to see what they find out about it! Hyperion may be small but it’s a really interesting object.

Well maybe the little craters are from material was spit out and then fell back?

You should also get credit if the grammar error in this sentence ever becomes a part of standard English (you’ll be just like Thomas ‘unalienable’ Jefferson)

*hides from the BA*

Weird.

What kind of forces or reactions could make icy/light stuff go black? Could it be more like something from the inside of the moon that wells up through the bottom of the crater — a bit like the maria on our moon? Maybe it’s stuff that was melted when the big impact occurred and now seeps into the bottom of more recent craters?