Exactly. Never be ashamed to ask questions -- curiosity is one of the most important traits a scientist can have! (That and the ability for critical thinking. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> )<br /><br /> Here's a picture of Iapetus which does show stars. It's a picture of Iapetus illuminated only by Saturnshine (in other words, the nightside of Iapetus), so it took a very long exposure to get it. In fact, it's such a long exposure that Cassini had to slew (rotate) to track Iapetus and keep it in focus. Consequently, not only do stars show up, but they're smeared, producing what astrophotographers call star-trails. (Ignore the dots scattered randomly around the picture; those are noise. The link is a raw image, so any noise from the original transmission, including cosmic ray hits on the CCD, have not been removed. All NASA has done is to convert it into a JPEG so your web browser can show it.)<br /><br />
Iapetus, Jan 1, 2005 <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em> -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>