Cassini gets last look at Saturn’s spongy satellite Hyperion

That’s no space sponge above — it’s a moon of Saturn. Hyperion, one of the oddest-looking moons in the solar system, shows off its bizarrely sculpted surface in new images taken by the Cassini spacecraft, which buzzed the moon for the final time on May 31.

Hyperion would easily float in an adequately sized pool — it’s about half as dense as water. The interior of the moon is highly porous, a network of cavities within a loosely bound pile of ice and rubble. Because the moon is a bit fluffy, incoming meteorites squish the surface rather than excavate it, which contributes to its spongy appearance.