Mimas (moon)
| Mimas | |
|---|---|
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| Mimas, taken by Cassini on February 13, 2010 from a distance of 50,000 km. The relatively huge Herschel crater is clearly visible . | |
| Central body | Saturn |
| Properties of the orbit | |
| Major semi-axis | 185,520 km |
| Periapsis | 181,770 km |
| Apoapsis | 189,270 km |
| eccentricity | 0.0202 |
| Orbit inclination | 1.566 ° |
| Orbital time | 0.9424218 d |
| Mean orbital velocity | 14.322 km / s |
| Physical Properties | |
| Albedo | 0.962 ± 0.004 (0.77?) |
| Apparent brightness | 12.8 mag |
| Medium diameter | 396.6 ± 0.6 (414.8 × 394.4 × 381.4) km |
| Dimensions | 3.7493 ± 0.0031 x 10 19 kg |
| surface | 494,100 km 2 |
| Medium density | 1.1479 ± 0.0053 g / cm 3 |
| Sidereal rotation | 0.9424218 days |
| Axis inclination | 0.005 ° |
| Acceleration of gravity on the surface | 0.0636 m / s 2 |
| Escape speed | 159 m / s |
| Surface temperature | −209 ° C (64) K |
| discovery | |
| Explorer | |
| Date of discovery | September 17, 1789 |
| Remarks | Known as the "Death Star" |
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| The positions of the inner moons of Saturn in Saturn's ring system, from inside to outside Pan, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Janus and Epimetheus, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione and Rhea | |
Mimas (also Saturn I ) is the tenth and seventh largest of the 82 known moons and the smallest of the largely round moons of the planet Saturn . It is an ice moon and could have a subglacial ocean .
Discovery and naming
Mimas was discovered on September 17, 1789 by the British astronomer Wilhelm Herschel with his 48-inch reflector telescope.
Mimas is the 7th Saturn moon discovered and the 13th moon discovered in the entire solar system . Through its closest to Saturn orbit, he was as innerster of the seven previously known major moons of Saturn by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) with the Roman numbering I called.
The moon was named after the giant Mimas from Greek mythology . According to the IAU nomenclature, names of giants from Greek mythology as well as names from Arthurian legend are used for Chasmata on Mimas .
The name "Mimas" and seven other Saturn moons were suggested by Wilhelm Herschel's son, the astronomer John Herschel , in a publication published in 1847 ( Results of Astronomical Observations made at the Cape of Good Hope ). They should be named after siblings of the titan Kronos , who corresponds to the Roman Saturn .
Track properties
Orbit
Mimas orbits Saturn on a prograde , almost perfectly circular orbit at an average distance of 185,520 km (approx. 3,078 Saturn radii) from its center, i.e. about 125,252 km above its cloud ceiling. The orbital eccentricity is 0.0202, the railway is 1,566 ° relative to the equator of Saturn inclined , that is almost in the equatorial plane of the planet. Due to the low eccentricity, the orbit varies by about 7,500 km in the distance to Saturn.
The orbit of the next inner moon Aegaeon is on average about 17,900 km from the orbit of Mimas, the distance of the orbit of the next outer moon Methone is on average about 8,920 km.
Mimas orbits Saturn in 22 hours, 37 minutes and 5.2 seconds. It takes 3 hours and about 14 minutes longer than its inner neighbor Aegaeon for one orbit.
Railway resonances
Mimas has a significant impact on its neighborhood through a number of different orbital resonances . Due to its gravity, it is responsible for the fact that the 4,800 km wide Cassini division , which separates the A-ring from the B-ring , remains largely free of ring material. Mimas obviously has enough mass to keep the division empty, although on closer inspection there are still small particles, so the Cassinian division only appears dark and empty from a distance. The particles in the Huygens gap within the pitch have a 2: 1 orbital resonance with mimas. They are repeatedly attracted to mimas in the same direction, which puts them on an outer path. The boundary between the B and C rings is in a 3: 1 resonance with Mimas.
The moon is also in a 2: 3 resonance with the F-ring - shepherd's moon Pandora and a 7: 6 orbital resonance with its inner neighbor Aegaeon and the G-ring - whose inner ring edge is about 15,000 km within the orbit of Mimas extends - with Mimas causing a pendulum motion of Aegaeon's great orbital semi-axis , deviating about four kilometers over an estimated period of 4 years.
In addition, Mimas is in a 15:14 orbital resonance with its immediate nearest neighbor Methone (with a 450-day libration period), whose orbit is strongly disturbed by Mimas . The much larger Mimas causes deviations in the Methone orbit of around 20 km. The smaller Anthe is a little more disturbed by Mimas, with whom she is in a 10:11 orbit resonance, the orbit disturbance on Pallene is a little less strong .
Also, Mimas is in a 2: 1 resonance with Tethys , a 3: 1 resonance with Dione, and finally in near 3: 2 resonance with Enceladus .
rotation
The rotation time is the same as the orbital time and Mimas has a synchronous rotation , like the earth's moon , which also takes place within 22 hours, 37 minutes and 5.2 seconds. The axis of rotation is inclined 0.005 ° with respect to the orbit.
Physical Properties
size
Mimas has a mean diameter of 396.6 km. In the images from the Cassini and Voyager probes , Mimas appears as a remarkably round body compared to its relatively small size, measuring 414.8 km × 394.4 km × 381.4 km, with the longitudinal axis oriented towards Saturn. It is considered to be the smallest known astronomical body that has a round shape due to its own gravity, i.e. is in hydrostatic equilibrium . The deviation of about 10% is due to the tidal forces of Saturn, which gives the moon the shape of an ellipsoid . Mimas is the seventh largest moon of Saturn and ranks in the entire solar system on the 20th place among all planetary moons and the 47th place of all known bodies at all (as of March 2011).
In terms of size, Mimas can best be compared with the second largest Neptune moon Proteus or the third largest main belt - asteroid Hygiea .
The total area of Mimas is about 494,100 km², which roughly corresponds to the area of Spain.
internal structure
The mean density of Mimas is 1.1479 g / cm³, much lower than that of Earth , but is higher than the density of Saturn. This indicates that the moon is mainly composed of water ice with a small amount of silicate rock. Since the density of Mimas is slightly higher than the density of water - which was the only component that could be proven spectroscopically with certainty - it is possible that Mimas is a differentiated body that has a small rock core with a thick coat of water ice.
ocean
Research from Cassini data in October 2014 suggests that either the core of the moon is misshapen and similar in shape to a football , or Mimas has a liquid subglacial ocean.
Such an ocean would have to be about 15 to 31 kilometers below the surface. However, since Mimas is too small to produce enough heat for liquid water inside, it would need other energy sources. One possibility would be that Mimas used to have a much more elliptical orbit and could thus produce enough heat for an ocean through tidal forces . Even if an ocean on Mimas would be a surprise for the scientists, model calculations for the possibility of a misshapen core showed that the moon itself would then have to be shaped differently than it is.
surface
Mimas has a very high albedo of around 0.962, which means that it has a very bright surface that reflects 96% of the incident sunlight . The acceleration due to gravity on its surface is 0.0636 m / s², which is less than one percent of that on earth.
The most striking feature of its surface is the 130 km large Herschel crater (see below ).
coloring
A uniform gray or a slightly yellowish tint is assumed for the color of mimas in visible light, with the surface showing slight differences in color. It was initially assumed that the color on Mimas would have to be uniform due to the constant bombardment of micrometeorites from the E-ring , but in and around the largest Herschel crater the surrounding terrain has a slightly bluish tint, the origin of which is not fully understood; presumably this is based on a slightly different composition of the surface material.
In the images from the Cassini spacecraft , dark streaks can be seen in the walls of various craters, often created by dark impurities on the crater edges sliding down the slopes. The sources of these contaminated deposits are likely to be small, older craters with dark crater floors fed by micrometeorites, buried by a blanket of ejected material from recent impacts and partially exposed through the newly formed crater walls. Eventually the dark spots peeled off and slid down the crater walls, creating the streaks. Sometimes small craters with dark bottoms can also be identified as origins, which have been overlaid and cut by newer larger craters. The images also show dark markings along the lower parts of the crater walls. The Cassini scientists interpret this as evidence of a gradual concentration of impurities from the evaporation of light, ice-containing material by the sun and the vacuum of space.
Temperatures
The mean surface temperature of Mimas is estimated to be approximately −209 ° C (64 K ). In 2010, NASA published a temperature map of Mimas, which shows that, contrary to expectations, temperatures are unevenly distributed. They were expected to be highest at the equator in the early afternoon, analogous to Earth , but the maps show that the warmest regions on Mimas are near the morning terminator - in the area where the sun had just risen - and in the in both polar regions.
The temperatures in parts of the hemisphere turned away from Saturn are about 20 K higher than in the area around the Herschel crater and are unusually sharply limited; the V-shaped temperature distribution on the cards is reminiscent of the shape of the video game character Pac-Man . The warmer areas have typical temperatures of around −181 ° C (92 K), while the colder areas on the maps are around −196 ° C (77 K). It is believed that this is due to slight differences in the composition of the surface material; it is possible that the surface of the warmer regions consists of a type of powder snow that has a lower density and therefore stores the heat better. On the other hand, the surface material of the colder areas may have a higher thermal conductivity, so that the solar energy seeps under the surface instead of warming the surface. It is also possible that the cold areas had something to do with the Herschel impact, which may have melted the ice and spread the water around the area. This would have frozen very quickly and would have left a thicker layer of ice behind. However, it is difficult to understand why this denser layer would have remained intact, since micrometeorites and larger debris must have pulverized it by now. It is not sufficiently clear why the thermal conductivity can show such great differences and the temperature distribution can show such abrupt limits.
In and around the Herschel crater itself, the temperatures are also slightly higher (–189 ° C / 84 K) than in the surrounding area. The reason for this is the high crater walls, which can store the heat inside the crater.
The temperatures on Mimas are generally puzzling to scientists, as the moon is closer to Saturn than Enceladus and its orbit is more eccentric by comparison. Therefore, Mimas would have to be exposed to stronger tidal forces than Enceladus. This still has active cryovolcanic geysers , while Mimas has one of the most heavily cratered surfaces in the solar system; this indicates a surface frozen for long periods of time. This paradox inspired the scientists to develop the so-called “Mimas Test” theory, which aims to explain the partially thawed water of Enceladus taking into account the completely frozen water on Mimas.
Crater area
The surface of Mimas is extraordinarily cratered, and along with Rhea or Jupiter's moon Callisto, it is one of the most heavily cratered objects in the solar system. Due to its proximity to Saturn, it may have had an impact rate several times higher in its history than the more distant moons such as Rhea. It is believed that Mimas must be even more cratered, but its proximity to the planet made it warmer and therefore softer, causing older craters to fade over long periods of time and to be obliterated or overlaid by recent impacts. The crater density is at saturation, which means that newer craters can only be formed by the destruction of older craters and the number of craters thus remains almost constant.
The surface has numerous smaller craters, none of which approaches the size of the Herschel crater. Most of the surface is dotted with craters larger than 40 km, but the degree of crater is not uniform. There are no craters larger than 20 km in the South Pole region. Obviously, later geological processes took place here that led to the regression of the craters, such as melting or cryovolcanic processes, which, interestingly, could mean an analogy to Enceladus .
Herschel Crater
The diameter of Herschel Crater is almost a third of the diameter of the Moon and about 10% of the total equatorial circumference. The crater is located on the leading hemisphere and lies with the center of its central mountain almost exactly on the equator. The crater wall is almost 5 km high, the ground is partially 10 km below the surrounding area and the central mountain rises about 6 km above the ground. Recent analyzes have shown that the central mountain could even protrude up to 11 km above the surroundings, which would make it one of the largest central mountains in the solar system. The force of the impact that created this crater must have been so great that it almost tore the moon apart. A correspondingly large crater on earth would have a diameter of about 4,000 km and 200 km high crater walls, the central mountain would be between 170 and 300 km high (!). Relative to the mother body, Herschel is the largest crater of a body in hydrostatic equilibrium in the solar system.
On the opposite side of Mimas, areas of fractures and faults can be seen, which were likely caused by the converging seismic shock waves of the impact (see below ). It is also believed to be the source of the slight color and large temperature differences on the Mimas surface.
The characteristic appearance of the moon, which is shaped by the large crater, earned it the nickname " Death Star " , even among experts . This goes back to the so-called giant enemy space stations from the Star Wars films Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope and Star Wars: Episode VI - The Return of the Jedi , whose firepower was enough to destroy an entire planet. Since the first film was made three years before the discovery of the crater, Mimas cannot have served as a template for it, so the similarity is a pure coincidence.
List of named craters on Mimas
With the exception of Herschel, the 35 craters on Mimas named so far are all named after characters from the Arthurian legend , the spelling of the names being based on the English translation of Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur by Keith Baines.
| Surname | Diameter (km) |
Coordinates | Origin of name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Herschel | 139.0 | 18.14 ° S 90.91 ° E / 21.50 ° N 131.10 ° E | William Herschel , British astronomer (1738-1822) |
| Arthur | 64.0 | 26.37 ° S 186.08 ° E / 44.70 ° S 204.72 ° E | Arthur , king and main character of the ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Accolon | 48.0 | 63.35 ° S 173.65 ° E / 77.87 ° S 197.76 ° E | Accolon , friend of Arthur (Arthurian legend ) |
| Morgan | 43.0 | 30.78 ° S 238.74 ° E / 18.51 ° S 251.55 ° E | Morgan , half-sister of Arthur (Arthurian legend ) |
| Gwynevere | 42.0 | 11.35 ° S 318.68 ° E / 23.50 ° S 328.98 ° E | Guinevere , wife of Arthur and Lancelot's lover (Arthurian legend ) |
| Lucas | 40.0 | 46.24 ° N 212.19 ° E / 35.94 ° N 227.11 ° E | Sir Lucan , servant of Arthur (Arthurian legend ) |
| Melyodas | 40.0 | 67.10 ° S 56.43 ° E / 80.35 ° S 95.43 ° E | Meliodas , King of Lyonesse ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Igraine | 39.0 | 36.67 ° S 224.19 ° E / 46.94 ° S 237.96 ° E | Igraine , mother of Arthur (Arthurian legend ) |
| Ban | 37.0 | 48.68 ° N 155.04 ° E / 38.36 ° N 166.59 ° E | Ban , King of Benwick, father of Lancelot ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Merlin | 37.0 | 32.24 ° S 212.74 ° E / 42.43 ° S 225.50 ° E | Merlin , magician and mentor of Arthur (Arthurian legend ) |
| Pellinore | 36.0 | 35.26 ° N 129.81 ° E / 25.14 ° N 139.80 ° E | Pellinore , King in the Round Table ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Balin | 35.0 | 20.56 ° N 78.33 ° E / 9.51 ° N 88.30 ° E | Sir Balin , knight ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Dynas | 35.0 | 7.6 ° N 74.56 ° E / 3.86 ° S 86.56 ° E | Dinadan , Knights of the round table ( Artussage ) |
| Bors | 34.0 | 46.85 ° N 166.87 ° E / 38.22 ° N 177.13 ° E | Bors , King in Gaul , Knight of the Round Table ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Galahad | 34.0 | 40.42 ° S 138.63 ° E / 50.42 ° S 152.63 ° E | Galahad , knight of the grail of the round table ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Marhaus | 34.0 | 3.73 ° S 4.68 ° E / 13.37 ° S 355.44 ° E | Marhaus / Morholt , poisoners of Tristram ( Artussage ) |
| Uther | 34.0 | 29.91 ° S 243.04 ° E / 39.76 ° S 255.38 ° E | Uther Pendragon , father of Arthur (Arthurian legend ) |
| Launcelot | 30.0 | 5.10 ° S 324.00 ° E / 14.30 ° S 332.81 ° E | Lancelot , Arthur's darling and Guinea's lover (Arthurian legend ) |
| Dagonet | 28.0 | 51.81 ° N 255.75 ° E / 43.74 ° N 266.70 ° E | Sir Dagonet , court jester at Arthur's court (Arthurian legend ) |
| Gawain | 27.0 | 53.83 ° S 253.00 ° E / 61.68 ° S 267.61 ° E | Gawain , King Arthur's favorite cousin (Arthurian legend ) |
| Modred | 26.0 | 7.88 ° N 215.86 ° E / 0.57 ° N 223.65 ° E | Mordred , King Arthur's son and mortal enemy (Arthurian legend ) |
| Bedivere | 25.0 | 13.21 ° N 145.72 ° E / 5.09 ° N 153.66 ° E | Sir Bedivere , Knight of Arthur (Arthurian legend ) |
| Kay | 24.0 | 49.02 ° N 115.86 ° E / 41.21 ° N 124.35 ° E | Sir Keie , important knight of the round table ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Gaheris | 23.0 | 41.59 ° S 294.19 ° E / 47.78 ° S 302.76 ° E | Sir Gaheris , knight of Arthur and son of King Lot of Orkney (Arthurian legend ) |
| Gareth | 23.0 | 39.51 ° S 283.81 ° E / 46.23 ° S 291.93 ° E | Gareth , Knight of the Round Table , son of King Lot ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Royns | 22.1 | 35.68 ° N 343.61 ° E / 29.15 ° N 350.58 ° E | Rience , King of the West, enemy of Arthur ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Lot | 22.0 | 27.76 ° S 228.35 ° E / 34.40 ° S 235.40 ° E | Lot , leader of the rebelling kings ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Nero | 22.0 | 3.10 ° N 304.04 ° E / 3.58 ° S 310.43 ° E | Nero , King of the West, enemy of Arthur ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Elaine | 21.0 | 49.39 ° N 103.55 ° E / 43.28 ° N 110.68 ° E | Elaine , one of several characters ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Iseult | 21.0 | 44.38 ° S 29.67 ° E / 49.32 ° S 38.00 ° E | Iseult , mistress of Tristram ( Arthurian legend ) |
| mark | 20.8 | 23.73 ° S 304.89 ° E / 28.48 ° S 311.66 ° E | Mark , King of Cornwall ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Lamerok | 20.0 | 58.9 ° S 283.4 ° E / 64.62 ° S 294.77 ° E | Lamerok , son of King Pellinore ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Percivale | 20.0 | 0.77 ° N 175.87 ° E / 6.40 ° S 181.76 ° E | Parzival , Finder of the Grail , Knight of the Round Table ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Tristram | 20.0 | 52.32 ° S 26.00 ° E | Tristam , Savior of Iseult, Knight of the Round Table ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Palomides | 10.0 | 4.70 ° N 160.33 ° E / 1.72 ° N 163.02 ° E | Palomides , Saracen enemy of Tristram ( Arthurian legend ) |
Chasmata and Catena
The Chasmata (singular Chasma ) on Mimas are according to popular opinion of most scientists by the impact that formed the crater Herschel, emerged. They represent canyons or rifts that extend up to 150 km ( Camelot Chasma and Pangea Chasma ) over the cratered surface and are mostly found near the Herschel Crater and on the opposite hemisphere.
The seven Chasmata on Mimas named in 1982 are named after locations from Greek mythology and Arthurian legend . On July 13, 2007, Tintagil Chasma was renamed Tintagil Catena , as this structure (plural catenae ) was recognized as a possible linear chain of impact craters on the better-resolved newer Cassini images . Tintagil Catena may have been created by ejecta from a nearby crater or by impacts of fragments of a broken body, such as the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact on Jupiter. However, it is also possible that these are depressions that were created by the yielding subsurface.
| Surname | Length (km) | Coordinates | Origin of name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camelot Chasma | 150.0 | 23.5 ° S 4.4 ° E / 54.0 ° S 39.65 ° E | Camelot , court of Arthur (Arthurian legend ) |
| Pangea Chasma | 150.0 | 13.74 ° S 132.0 ° E / 44.7 ° S 163.0 ° E | Pangea , place in the Titanomachy ( Greek mythology ) |
| Avalon Chasma | 120.0 | 47.0 ° S 321.21 ° E / 23.0 ° S 357.33 ° E | Avalon , Mystical Paradise ( Arthurian legend ) |
| Oeta Chasma | 110.0 | 35.0 ° S 111.4 ° E / 8.0 ° S 132.0 ° E | Oeta , mountain in the Titanomachy ( Greek mythology ) |
| Pelion Chasma | 100.0 | 22.7 ° S 233.42 ° E / 25.8 ° S 266.83 ° E | Pelion , mountain in the Titanomachy ( Greek mythology ) |
| Ossa Chasma | 95.0 | 18.25 ° S 290.18 ° E / 27.81 ° S 318.37 ° E | Ossa , mountain in the Titanomachy ( Greek mythology ) |
| Tintagil Catena | 55.0 | 47.39 ° S 201.82 ° E / 55.21 ° S 223.37 ° E | Tintagel Castle , home of Arthur's mother Igraine (Arthurian legend ) |
exploration
Mimas has an apparent magnitude of 12.9 m , which is 1: 69200 of the central planet. Since its discovery in 1789, Mimas has been examined by earth-based telescopes and later by the Hubble space telescope and its orbital parameters could be specified more precisely. To observe it, you need a larger telescope .
Mimas has so far been visited by four space probes , namely the flyby probes Pioneer 11 on September 1, 1979, Voyager 1 on November 12, 1980, which was able to take some relatively well-resolved images and Voyager 2 on August 25, 1981 from a distance. The greatest breakthrough in the exploration of mimas came with the Saturn orbiter Cassini , which orbited Saturn from July 1, 2004 to October 15, 2017. Mimas was repeatedly targeted by Cassini, so that its surface and shape as well as its orbital parameters are now fairly well known, although most of Cassini's flyby took place at some distance. The closest approach to the moon occurred during the 126th orbit around Saturn on February 13, 2010, when the Mimas probe passed at a distance of 9,526.4 km and sent high-resolution images to Earth. Further Cassini flybys were planned until 2017.
| probe | date | Distance (km) | Relative speed (km / s) | Phase (degree) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer 11 | September 1, 1979 | 104.263 | ||
| Voyager 1 | November 12, 1980 | 88,440 | ||
| Voyager 2 | August 25, 1981 | 309,990 | ||
| Cassini | July 1, 2004 | 76,659 | ||
| December 15, 2004 | 107.073 | |||
| January 16, 2005 | 108,000 | |||
| April 15, 2005 | 84,660 | |||
| August 2, 2005 | 63,573 | |||
| September 23, 2005 | 71,442 | |||
| June 11, 2007 | 112,150 | |||
| June 27, 2007 | 98,877 | |||
| December 3, 2007 | 86,471 | |||
| April 11, 2008 | 110.711 | |||
| April 20, 2008 | 117,596 | |||
| September 17, 2008 | 61,670.9 | 18.3 | 139 | |
| October 24, 2008 | 57,292.9 | 18.3 | 155 | |
| October 14, 2009 | 44,193.4 | 7.9 | 102 | |
| February 13, 2010 | 9,526.4 | 5.8 | 99 | |
| April 7, 2010 | 97,420.1 | 10.3 | 124 | |
| October 16, 2010 | 77,824.8 | 2.6 | 116 | |
| 4th January 2012 | 91,038.5 | 2.1 | 153 | |
| May 20, 2012 | 101,680.9 | 12.8 | 148 | |
| 5th June 2012 | 35,975.3 | 7.0 | 112 |
| date | Distance (km) | Relative speed (km / s) | Phase (degree) |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 30, 2015 | 54,158.3 | 10.9 | 93 |
| January 14, 2016 | 27,984.0 | 7.0 | 105 |
| 19th November 2016 | 47,367.9 | 15.7 | 17th |
| December 26, 2016 | 41,720.4 | 19.4 | 113 |
| January 30, 2017 | 41,655.5 | 19.7 | 110 |
| March 7, 2017 | 104,239.5 | 20.8 | 73 |
| 29th March 2017 | 118,374.8 | 22.7 | 108 |
| April 12, 2017 | 101,313.9 | 20.8 | 76 |
| May 28, 2017 | 122,598.2 | 29.8 | 139 |
Web links
- Current Cassini recordings from Mimas a picture gallery of the field of planetology and remote sensing at the Free University of Berlin under the direction of Cassini team member Gerhard Neukum
- Voyager 1 and 2 - Atlas of Six Saturnian Satellites NASA maps of six Saturn moons based on images from the Voyager probes
- USGS list of named structures on Mimas
Individual evidence
- ↑ Paul Rincon: Saturn overtakes Jupiter as planet with most moons. BBC , October 7, 2019, accessed March 20, 2020 .
- ^ William Herschel: Account of the Discovery of a Sixth and Seventh Satellite of the Planet Saturn; With Remarks on the Construction of Its Ring, Its Atmosphere, Its Rotation on an Axis, and Its Spheroidical Figure. By William Herschel, LL.DFRS Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. January 1, 1790 80: 1-20; doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1790.0001 ( full text )
- ↑ a b Categories for Naming Features on Planets and Satellites - IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)
- ↑ Saturn Moon May Hide a 'Fossil' Core or an Ocean. NASA JPL , October 16, 2014, accessed October 17, 2014 .
- ↑ Jia-Rui C. Cook: 1980s Video Icon Glows on Saturn Moon. jpl.nasa.gov, March 29, 2010, accessed March 5, 2011 .
- ^ Bill Arnett (translator Michael Wapp): Mimas. nineplaneten.de (nineplanets.org), March 14, 2007, accessed on March 5, 2011 .
- ↑ NASA page labeled "Death Star" Moon for Mimas
- ↑ PJStooke: Geology of Mimas . 1989, bibcode : 1989LPI .... 20.1069S .
| further inside | Saturn moons | further outside |
| Aegaeon |
Semi- major axis (km) Mimas 185.600 |
Methone |