Roland (crater)
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Feature type | Impact crater |
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Location | Iapetus |
Coordinates | 73°18′N 25°12′W / 73.30°N 25.20°W[2] |
Diameter | 144 km |
Eponym | Roland of Song of Roland |
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Iapetus_north_azimuthal.png/220px-Iapetus_north_azimuthal.png)
Roland is a 144 km (89-mile)-wide crater near the north pole of Iapetus, a moon of the planet Saturn.[2] It lies inside one of the bright areas on Iapetus called Roncevaux Terra. Images of Roland shows that it has a central peak.
It is named after Roland, the titular main character and protagonist of the Song of Roland, a medieval epic poem.[2] All other surface features on Iapetus are named after characters of this poem.[3]
Exploration
[edit]No high resolution image of Iapetus's north pole has been taken up to date. This makes it difficult to make a highly detailed map of Roland.
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Voyager_2_Iapetus.jpg/220px-Voyager_2_Iapetus.jpg)
The first probe to photograph Roland was Voyager 2, which passed by the north pole of Iapetus on 22 August 1981, during its flyby of Saturn.[4]
The latest mission to visit Saturn was the Cassini spacecraft which arrived at Saturn starting on 1 July 2004.[5] It provided the clearest and best images of Roland during its scheduled flyby on November 12, 2005.[1]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b "A Moon with Two Dark Sides". NASA. 26 December 2005. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
- ^ a b c "Roland". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program. (Center Latitude: 73.30°, Center Longitude: 25.20°; Planetographic, +West)
- ^ "Iapetus". NASA. January 2024. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
- ^ https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/vg2_4391335.html
- ^ https://science.nasa.gov/mission/cassini/the-journey/timeline/