Roncevaux Terra is the name given to the highly reflective side of Saturn's moon Iapetus. The other half of Iapetus, named Cassini Regio, is extremely dark. It is believed that Roncevaux Terra 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. For more details, see the main article on Iapetus.
Roncevaux Terra is named after the Battle of Roncevaux Pass, subject of the French poem the Chanson de Roland, after whose characters the surface features of Iapetus are named. "Terra" is a term used in planetary geology to refer to extensive landmasses.
The largest named crater in the terra is the 504-km-diameter Engelier. It partially obscures the slightly smaller crater Gerin. Both craters are named for paladins mentioned in the Chanson de Roland.
Famous quotes containing the word terra:
“Treading the soil of the moon, palpating its pebbles, tasting the panic and splendor of the event, feeling in the pit of one’s stomach the separation from terra ... these form the most romantic sensation an explorer has ever known ... this is the only thing I can say about the matter. The utilitarian results do not interest me.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)