土卫八

土卫八新运动理论的比较研究

A comparative study of the new theories of the motion of Iapetus

究竟土星的卫星土卫八发生了什麽事？

What has happened to Saturn 's moon Iapetus ?

科学家们认为，之后这个小卫星又开始向土卫八坠落。

This mini-moon then started to fall back towards Iapetus , they argue .

有半边的土卫八已经暗到即使从地球观看，还是几乎消失的样子。

Half of Iapetus is so dark that it can nearly disappear when viewed from Earth .

不管事实到底如何，这些山脉确实非常壮观，而且使得土卫八看起来像太空中的一个核桃。

Whatever the truth , the range is remarkable and makes Iapetus look like a walnut in space .

而另一半边的土卫八则是相对明亮但是怪异地布满又长又细的深色条纹。

The other half of Iapetus is relatively bright but oddly covered with long and thin streaks of dark .

这些数据表明在数十亿年前，土卫八曾受到大型物体的撞击，撞击产生的残骸反弹到太空中形成一个小卫星。

They suggest Iapetus was hit by a large object billions of years ago , and then the debris from the impact was thrown into space , where it formed a mini-moon .