Mimas [
http://seds.lpl.ari… ] is one of the smaller moons of Saturn [
http://antwrp.gsfc.… ] but shows one of the largest impact craters. In fact, if the impact had been much greater, it would have disrupted the entire satellite [
http://www.badastro… ]. The large crater has been named Herschel after the 1789 discoverer of Mimas, Sir William Herschel [
http://star.arm.ac.… ]. Mimas' low mass produces a surface gravity just strong enough to create a spherical body but weak enough to allow such relatively large surface features. Mimas [
http://www.hawastso… ] is made of mostly water ice with a smattering of rock - so it is accurately described as a big dirty snowball. Voyager [
http://vraptor.jpl.… ] 1 flew by in 1980 and took the above picture.
explanation
Mimas [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/mimas.html ] is one of the smaller moons of Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970921.html ] but shows one of the largest impact craters. In fact, if the impact had been much greater, it would have disrupted the entire satellite [ http://www.badastronomy.com/bitesize/mimas.html ]. The large crater has been named Herschel after the 1789 discoverer of Mimas, Sir William Herschel [ http://star.arm.ac.uk/history/herschel.html ]. Mimas' low mass produces a surface gravity just strong enough to create a spherical body but weak enough to allow such relatively large surface features. Mimas [ http://www.hawastsoc.org/solar/eng/mimas.htm ] is made of mostly water ice with a smattering of rock - so it is accurately described as a big dirty snowball. Voyager [ http://vraptor.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/voyager.html ] 1 flew by in 1980 and took the above picture.
Explanation
false