Iapetus as seen by the Cassini probe - 20071008

Roncevaux Terra is the name given to the northern part of the highly reflective side of

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

's moon

Iapetus In Greek mythology, Iapetus (; ; ), also Japetus, is a Titan, the son of Uranus and Gaia and father of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius. He was also called the father of Buphagus and Anchiale in other sources. Iapetus was linked ...

. The southern half of this side is named ''

Saragossa Terra Saragossa Terra is the name given to the southern part of the highly reflective half of Saturn's moon Iapetus. It is bordered on the north by Roncevaux Terra, and on both the east and west sides by Cassini Regio. The largest named crater in Sa ...

''. The other half of Iapetus, named

Cassini Regio Cassini Regio (adjective ''Cassinian'' ) is the enigmatic dark area that covers the leading half of Saturn's moon Iapetus. It is named after Giovanni Cassini, the discoverer of Iapetus; ' Regio' is a term used in planetary geology for a large a ...

, is extremely dark. It is believed that Roncevaux Terra's colour is the underlying colour of Iapetus, while Cassini Regio was formed either by a substance that has covered up the brighter ice of the rest of the moon, or by a residue left from the sublimation of Roncevaux-type water ice. Roncevaux Terra is named after the

Battle of Roncevaux Pass The Battle of Roncevaux Pass ( French and English spelling, '' Roncesvalles'' in Spanish, ''Orreaga'' in Basque) in 778 saw a large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne's army in Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on ...

, subject of the French

epic poem In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...

the ''

Chanson de Roland The ''Song of Roland'' () is an 11th-century based on the deeds of the Frankish kingdom, Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in AD 778, during the reign of the Charlemagne, Emperor Charlemagne. It is the oldest surv ...

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