What is the surface of Mimas like?

What is the surface of Mimas like?

Most of the Mimas surface is saturated with impact craters ranging in size up to greater than 25 miles (40 kilometers) in diameter. However, the craters in the South Pole region of Mimas are generally 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) in diameter or less.

Is Mimas bigger than Earth?

With a mean radius of 198.2 ± 0.4 km and a mass of about 3.75 ×1019 kg, Mimas is equivalent in size to 0.0311 Earths and 0.0000063 times as massive. Orbiting Saturn at an average distance (semi-major axis) of 185,539 km, it is the innermost of Saturn’s larger moons, and the 8th moon orbiting Saturn.

Is Mimas habitable?

Scientists say Mimas’ ocean might support life, even if it is encased in ice. “Because the surface of Mimas is heavily cratered, we thought it was just a frozen block of ice,” Dr. Alyssa Rhoden, a specialist in the geophysics of icy satellites, said in a statement.

What type of moon is Mimas?

Discovery
Inclination	1.574° (to Saturn’s equator)
Satellite of	Saturn
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	415.6 × 393.4 × 381.2 km (0.0311 Earths)

Discovery
Inclination	1.574° (to Saturn’s equator)
Satellite of	Saturn
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	415.6 × 393.4 × 381.2 km (0.0311 Earths)

What is Mimas atmosphere made of?

The mean density of Mimas is only 1.15 times that of water, and its surface is primarily water frost. For these reasons, Mimas is believed to be composed principally of ice. It is very bright, reflecting more than 80 percent of sunlight falling on it.

Is Mimas icy?

But unlike other icy moons known to possess under-ice oceans, Mimas has a surface that offers no hints of cracks or melting that might suggest sloshiness within. It also stretched scientific credulity that the interior of a moon as small as Mimas could be warm enough for an ocean to remain unfrozen.

Why is Mimas called the Death Star?

Mimas, Saturn’s cryptic-looking moon, is awfully deceptive. The small moon is dominated by an 80-mile-wide crater, giving it the appearance of the grim Star Wars Death Star — a space station equipped with a planet-destroying weapon.

How high can you jump on Mimas?

Name	Gravity m/s²	Jump height metres
Mimas	0.06	76.57
Enceladus	0.11	43.04
Titan	1.35	3.60
Triton	0.78	6.24

Name	Gravity m/s²	Jump height metres
Mimas	0.06	76.57
Enceladus	0.11	43.04
Titan	1.35	3.60
Triton	0.78	6.24

How long is a day on Mimas?

One day on Mimas is equal to 23 hours.

Why does the face of Mimas face Saturn?

Like a lot of moons in the solar system, including our own, Mimas always shows essentially the same face to its parent planet. This is called a spin-orbit resonance, meaning the moon’s rotation, or spin, is in sync with its orbit around Saturn.

Did Mimas inspire the Death Star?

“The appearance of Mimas was not seen in detail until the Voyager spacecraft flew through the Saturn system in 1980, so the design of the Death Star was not influenced by Mimas,” a spokesperson at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory told Space.com.

Can you walk on Titan moon?

Titan’s nitrogen atmosphere is so dense that a human wouldn’t need a pressure suit to walk around on the surface. He or she would, however, need an oxygen mask and protection against the cold—temperatures at Titan’s surface are around minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 179 Celsius).

What is the weather like on Mimas?

The surface is icy and heavily cratered. Mimas has a low density, meaning it probably consists mostly of ice. Because Mimas has such a low temperature of about -200° C (-328°F), the impact features may date back to the time of the moon’s creation.

What is the brightest moon in the world?

Enceladus is one of the brightest objects in our Solar System, as its water ice surface reflects almost 100 per cent of the Sun’s light – but this physical characteristic isn’t what makes it one of the most thrilling places in our Solar System.

What is a smiling moon called?

A wet moon (also called a Cheshire moon) is the visual phenomenon when the “horns” of the crescent Moon point up at an angle, away from the horizon, so that the crescent takes on the appearance of a bowl or smile.

Is there oxygen in moon rocks?

All lunar rock and soil do, however, contain approximately 45 wt% oxygen, combined with metals or nonmetals to form oxides. This oxygen can be extracted if thermal, electrical, or chemical energy is invested to break the chemical bonds.

Is Mimas bigger than the moon?

Discovered in 1789 by Herschel. Mimas’ low density (1.17) indicates that it is composed mostly of water ice with only a small amount of rock. The surface of Mimas is dominated by an impact crater 130 km across, known as Herschel; it’s almost 1/3 of the diameter of the entire moon.

Is Mimas the closest moon to Saturn?

An icy puzzle Traveling only 115,280 miles (185,520 km) from Saturn, Mimas is the closest major moon orbiting the planet.

How did the surface of the moon look like?

The Moon’s surface had what looked like valleys, plains and mountains much like the distinctly unheavenly surface of the Earth. Galileo’s conclusion led him to search for imperfections in other objects in the night sky – and ultimately to prove that the Earth was not the centre of the Universe.

What do you think the surface of the moon looks like?

The surface of the moon The moon’s surface is covered with dead volcanoes, impact craters, and lava flows, some visible to the unaided stargazer. Early scientists thought the dark stretches of the moon might be oceans, and so named such features mare, which is Latin for “seas” (maria when there are more than one).

Why does Mimas look like the Death Star?

Mimas, Saturn’s cryptic-looking moon, is awfully deceptive. The small moon is dominated by an 80-mile-wide crater, giving it the appearance of the grim Star Wars Death Star — a space station equipped with a planet-destroying weapon. But otherwise, Mimas appears as a frozen chunk of ice.

What does the surface of Enceladus look like?

Enceladus is mostly covered by fresh, clean ice, making it one of the most reflective bodies of the Solar System. Consequently, its surface temperature at noon only reaches −198 °C (75.1 K; −324.4 °F), far colder than a light-absorbing body would be.