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Crater numbers and geological histories of Iapetus, Enceladus, Tethys and Hyperion

Abstract

Tethys, Iapetus and Enceladus, satellites of Saturn, display surfaces which indicate that geological processes have been active suggesting a certain degree of internal evolution. On Iapetus activity seems to have been confined to the dark terrain and its timing and extent remain unknown. The widest variation of terrains and crater numbers occurs on Enceladus and indicates the most prolonged geological activity of any satellite. Activity on Tethys seems confined to the first few hundred million years. The satellite Hyperion and the co-orbitals 1980S1 and 1980S3 show no geological activity and apparently are fragments of once larger bodies.

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Plescia, J., Boyce, J. Crater numbers and geological histories of Iapetus, Enceladus, Tethys and Hyperion. Nature 301, 666–670 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/301666a0

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