Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Iapetus mountains Larger.jpg

Iapetus mountains

Original

High-res Version

Reason

This picture gives an amazingly three-dimensional view of the terrain on the bizarre moon Iapetus. Unlike most space probe images taken from above, it gives a sense of the view you might get from the object's surface.

Proposed caption

Mountains on Saturn's moon Iapetus, photographed by Cassini-Huygens. Original NASA caption reads "This stunning close-up view shows mountainous terrain that reaches about 10 kilometers (6 miles) high along the unique equatorial ridge of Iapetus. The view was acquired during Cassini's only close flyby of the two-toned Saturn moon. Above the middle of the image can be seen a place where an impact has exposed the bright ice beneath the dark overlying material. The image was taken on Sept. 10, 2007, with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of approximately 3,870 kilometers (2,400 miles) from Iapetus. Image scale is 23 meters (75 feet) per pixel."

Articles this image appears in

Iapetus (moon)

Creator

NASA

• Support as nominator Rubble pile 16:33, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
• Oppose - Too small, no sense of scale, poor composition (cut off mountain at top), hard to know what you're looking at (where's the ridge in the picture?). I'm sure we'll get an FP out of the Iapetus flyby, but this just isn't it. --Sean 19:36, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
  • Some fair criticism here but perhaps I should have stressed that this image was snapped by a extremely fast-moving spacecraft during a once-in-its-lifetime flypast of an incredibly hard-to-reach moon; the composition is impressive given the circumstances. Rubble pile 00:45, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
• Support The higher res version I uploaded. This is a rare and fantastic closeup picture of Iapetus. Imaninjapirate^{talk to me} 22:05, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
  • Thanks for the higher res version; obviously, this is better. Rubble pile 00:45, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
• Support per nom and rubble piles reply to TotoBaggins. I rarely get to see an image this clear of a 12 mile high mountain range. Debivort 14:50, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
• Oppose - Close up or not it is very bland gives no sense of what we are seeing and is cut off, now dont have a go at me for saying this, but it is my honest opinion. Also no sense of scale which makes the image useless --Childzy ¤ Talk 17:10, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
• Support – It does show a limited FOV and has other minor problems, but it is so exotic and high in encyclopedic value that I support it without any hesitation. — Ben pcc 19:57, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
• Support both--Mbz1 03:49, 16 September 2007 (UTC)Mbz1
  • Support either, I think it qualifies for a pass on the bluriness under the general standard that historic and once in a lifetime shots deserve a little bit of laxness (though not to much) when it comes to certain standards. Cat-five - talk 23:58, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
• support. such detail of a small object soo far away! I'd expect a blob or an indistinguishable disc, this is incredible! --froth^t 20:31, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Promoted Image:Iapetus mountains Larger.jpg MER-C 03:52, 22 September 2007 (UTC)