Moon
Mimas
Moon of Saturn
Moon of Saturn
Photo: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Mimas is the seventh-largest natural satellite of Saturn. With a mean diameter of 396.4 kilometres or 246.3 miles, Mimas is the smallest astronomical body known to be roughly rounded in shape due to its own gravity. Mimas's low density, 1.15 g/cm3, indicates that it is composed mostly of water ice with only a small amount of rock, and study of Mimas's motion suggests that it may have a liquid ocean beneath its surface ice. The surface of Mimas is heavily cratered and shows little sign of recent geological activity. A notable feature of Mimas's surface is Herschel, one of the largest craters relative to the size of the parent body in the Solar System. Herschel measures 139 kilometres across, about one-third of Mimas's mean diameter, and formed from an extremely energetic impact event. The crater is named after William Herschel, who discovered Mimas in 1789. The moon's presence has created one of the largest 'gaps' in Saturn's ring, named the Cassini Division, due to orbital resonance destabilising the particles' orbit there.
Description from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Key facts
Distance
Orbits Saturn
Orbits
Saturn
Mean radius
198 km
Orbital period
0.94 days
Discovered
1789 · William Herschel
Orbits
Saturn
