Posted on Aug 13, 2022
APOD: 2022 August 13 - Herschel Crater on Mimas
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Good evening, Rallypoint, and welcome to the August 13th edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day ("APOD): "Herschel Crater on Mimas." Mimas was discovered William Herschel September 17, 1789. His notes on the discovery speak of the "seventh satellite" of Saturn. We didn't get a close up view of Mimas until Cassini (2010) flew by at a distance of 9500 miles. Suffice it to say the imagery was eye-opening.
The large impact crater we see in today's APOD is called Herschel Crater. Its diameter 81 miles (the diameter of Mimas is 246 miles). A crater of an equivalent scale on Earth (in relative size) it would be wider than Australia (2,500 mi in diameter). If it was any larger, the impact would have potentially shattered Mimas.
So what is it about Mimas that allowed it to take such a punch? Using data gathered by Cassini, scientists at the Southwest Research Institute developed a tidal heating model for Mimas that suggested an internal ocean concealed by a stable icy shell between 14-20 miles in thickness. This model matched the visual and orbital data gathered by Cassini. And there is already evidence that suggests an internal ocean on the Saturnian moons Europa and Enceladus.
I'll post the photos from Cassini that show plumes of water ice from Enceladus in a separate comment. Could Mimas be another similar world?
The large impact crater we see in today's APOD is called Herschel Crater. Its diameter 81 miles (the diameter of Mimas is 246 miles). A crater of an equivalent scale on Earth (in relative size) it would be wider than Australia (2,500 mi in diameter). If it was any larger, the impact would have potentially shattered Mimas.
So what is it about Mimas that allowed it to take such a punch? Using data gathered by Cassini, scientists at the Southwest Research Institute developed a tidal heating model for Mimas that suggested an internal ocean concealed by a stable icy shell between 14-20 miles in thickness. This model matched the visual and orbital data gathered by Cassini. And there is already evidence that suggests an internal ocean on the Saturnian moons Europa and Enceladus.
I'll post the photos from Cassini that show plumes of water ice from Enceladus in a separate comment. Could Mimas be another similar world?
APOD: 2022 August 13 - Herschel Crater on Mimas
Posted from apod.nasa.gov
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Here's the promised Cassini photo of water ice plumes on Enceladus.
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Maj William W. 'Bill' Price Very interesting pic of one of the moons of Saturn, which the article says is a “diminutive icy world.” I wonder why God brought such planets and moons into existence, along with so many others we will never know about? What could be His purpose? Maybe there’s other beings He interacts with, maybe He enjoys watching His humans discover them; or maybe He has fun creating things.
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SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D
Sgt Ann Cecil: Great thoughts Ann and I believe you may be correct on all of them, plus so many others that our finite brains cannot comprehend further reasoning. Our finite brains are but what a grain of sand is to the entire Sahara Desert times an infinite number.
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