Saturn's moon Iapetus crafted by aliens? Know why people believe so

Saturn's moon Iapetus has many unique features and it looks like it has been crafted by aliens.

Iapetus
Mosaic of Iapetus images taken by the Cassini spacecraft, Dec. 31, 2004. Wikimedia Commons

Conspiracy theorists have recently concluded that Saturn's third largest moon, Iapetus, is not a mere natural satellite but an icy cold orb created by an intelligent extra-terrestrial civilisation. They came to this conclusion because of the unusual features of the celestial body discovered by Italian astronomer, Giovanni Domenico Cassini, in October 1671.

Though scientists don't buy this alien argument, they also cannot come up with a proper explanation to justify these unique features.

Firstly, the satellite was not formed like any other Saturn's moon be it Titan or Rhea. A picture taken by Cassini revealed a protruding line encircling the moon, called equatorial ridge, similar to an object crafted by two separate moulds. This gave rise to theories that the moon was two metallic structures welded together.

Sunday Express also noted that the moon looks very much like the Death Star in Star Wars. The shape of the satellite is a unique; it is neither spherical nor ellipsoid.

A Conspiracy theory channel called SecureTeam10, while describing the moon, said: "There' some very prominent researchers out there who have theorised that Iapetus is a constructed object, it's artificial," reported the news website.

"We didn't even have close up images of Iapetus, supposedly, when the Star Wars films came out in the 70s... Yet decades later we finally have some great close-up image and it's identical to this fictional artificial weapon that is disguised as a planet in the Star War films," the narrator added.

Iapetus
Raw image from Cassini space probe of the equatorial ridge on Saturn's moon Iapetus. Wikimedia Commons

The video also explores the possibility that the moon was probably two separate pieces joined together and thus creating the welding mark.

Another very interesting feature of the moon is its two-tone coloration. Cassini observed that the satellite has a synchronous rotation, which results in the revolving object constantly facing its partner with the same hemisphere, and that one side is darker than the other.

With these bizarre features, it is very much believable that Iapetus is not a natural celestial body but a spheroid crafted by aliens.

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