Post by seaoffeeling on Feb 16, 2005 15:38:51 GMT -5
www.guardian.co.uk/space/article/0,14493,1414923,00.html
Saturn's moon is the double of Star Wars space station
David Adam, science correspondent
Tuesday February 15, 2005
The Guardian
That's no moon, it's a space station. Actually it's Saturn's satellite Mimas, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Death Star - the planet-destroying space station in the film Star Wars.
Scientists at Nasa's jet propulsion laboratory in California have released a new image of Mimas, which was snapped by the Cassini spacecraft in orbit around the ringed planet.
Mimas is one of the innermost moons of Saturn. Its most prominent feature is a giant crater some 6 miles deep and 80 miles across, covering almost a third of the moon's diameter, probably caused by an enormous asteroid impact.
Traces of fracture marks can be seen on the opposite side. If the asteroid had been bigger or faster, the moon would probably have been split in two.
At the centre of the crater is a central mountain almost as high as Mount Everest. It was also formed by the asteroid impact when pulverised and molten material rebounded upwards like a splashing water droplet.
The moon's surface is icy and heavily cratered. Far from the warmth of the sun, it has a temperature about -200C and scientists think its low density means it consists mostly of ice.
Most of the craters on Mimas are named after characters in Camelot, but the biggest was christened Herschel after Sir William Herschel, the astronomer who discovered Mimas in 1789, Uranus in 1781 and invented the word asteroid. Mimas was a Titan slain by Hercules in Greek mythology.
Mimas's similarity to the Death Star was first noticed when the twin Voyager spacecraft flew past Saturn in 1980 and 1981.
The new picture was taken on 16 January when Cassini was about 132,000 miles away.
Saturn's moon is the double of Star Wars space station
David Adam, science correspondent
Tuesday February 15, 2005
The Guardian
That's no moon, it's a space station. Actually it's Saturn's satellite Mimas, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Death Star - the planet-destroying space station in the film Star Wars.
Scientists at Nasa's jet propulsion laboratory in California have released a new image of Mimas, which was snapped by the Cassini spacecraft in orbit around the ringed planet.
Mimas is one of the innermost moons of Saturn. Its most prominent feature is a giant crater some 6 miles deep and 80 miles across, covering almost a third of the moon's diameter, probably caused by an enormous asteroid impact.
Traces of fracture marks can be seen on the opposite side. If the asteroid had been bigger or faster, the moon would probably have been split in two.
At the centre of the crater is a central mountain almost as high as Mount Everest. It was also formed by the asteroid impact when pulverised and molten material rebounded upwards like a splashing water droplet.
The moon's surface is icy and heavily cratered. Far from the warmth of the sun, it has a temperature about -200C and scientists think its low density means it consists mostly of ice.
Most of the craters on Mimas are named after characters in Camelot, but the biggest was christened Herschel after Sir William Herschel, the astronomer who discovered Mimas in 1789, Uranus in 1781 and invented the word asteroid. Mimas was a Titan slain by Hercules in Greek mythology.
Mimas's similarity to the Death Star was first noticed when the twin Voyager spacecraft flew past Saturn in 1980 and 1981.
The new picture was taken on 16 January when Cassini was about 132,000 miles away.
