Mimas, Crater, and Mountain
Explanation:
Mimas is an icy, crater-pocked moon of Saturn a
mere 400 kilometers (250 miles) in diameter.
Its largest crater Herschel is nearly 140 kilometers wide.
About a third the diameter
of Mimas
itself, Herschel crater gives the small moon an ominous appearance,
especially for scifi fans of the Death Star battlestation of
Star Wars fame.
In fact, only a slightly bigger impact than the one that created such a large
crater on a small moon could have destroyed Mimas entirely.
In this
Cassini image from October 2016, the anti-Saturn hemisphere
of the synchronously rotating moon is bathed in sunlight,
its large crater near the right limb.
Casting a long shadow across the crater floor, Herschel's central
mountain peak is nearly as tall as Mount Everest
on planet Earth.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
