This is the smallest of the objects we know in the Solar System, which has a round shape. Saturn's seventh-largest satellite is only 397 kilometers in diameter and a hallmark: the Herschel crater, which corresponds to one-third of the entire moon!
Mimas with its large crater Herschel
By NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute link [Public domain]
It was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel, the discoverer of the moon Enceladus, which I have described to you lately. Mimas is 9 times smaller than our Moon satellite, it has almost a spherical shape and circles Saturn within nearly 23 hours after the orbiting diameter of 370 thousand. kilometers. This moon, like our earthly one, is always turned one hemisphere towards its own planet. Mimas separates the rings of Saturn A and B, creating a Cassini Division. We don't know much about him.
Mimas and Saturn's rings
By NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute link [Public domain]
Mimas has an average density of 1.15 kg / dm3, which is why it is mainly made of water ice with a small amount of rock matter. The surface of the moon reflects the majority of solar radiation, hence the temperature on the Mimas is around -200 degrees Celsius. The satellite has a large number of impact craters, and the largest of them is more than 130 km Herschel. Its depth is over 10 kilometers. The elevation in the middle of the crater is 6 kilometers high! Below is the approximation of this crater. Other craters have diameters of 20-40 kilometers.
Herschel crater on Mimas
By NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute link [Public domain]
To this day, there were four space probes in the vicinity of this satellite: Pioneer 11 in 1979, Voyager 1 in 1980, Voyager 2 in 1981 and the Cassini spacecraft, which has been exploring Saturn's moons for over ten years. On February 13, 2010, Cassini flew 9520 kilometers from Mimas. Perhaps in the future it will be better researched. It is certainly a very distant world that is full of secrets. We know jupiter's moons fairly well, while Saturn's satellites are already distant worlds, which are currently out of our reach.
