"Astronomers have known about this dichotomy ever since Italian-French
astronomer Jean Dominique Cassini discovered Iapetus in 1672. He
correctly surmised that the moon's trailing hemisphere as it moves
around Saturn is composed of highly reflective material but that the
leading hemisphere is apparently without the glitter. That's in contrast
to the other 30 known moons of Saturn, as well as the moons of Jupiter,
all of which tend to be brighter on their leading edges."

- from the article, "Cassini eyes Iapetus": Science News, July 31,
2004; Vol. 156, No. 5, p. 77

Do all of the moons of Saturn and Jupiter present the same face
toward their planets? I had assumed (perhaps erroneously) that
Earth's moon was an oddity. Is this the standard behavior for moons
in the Solar system?

heron

--
unDO email address
___
Nature, heron stone
to be commanded,
must be obeyed. http://home.comcast.net/~heronstone/