Mimas only just survived the impact that created its enormous crater (Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

Saturn's moon is Death Star's twin
11:01 11 February 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Kelly Young

Saturn's diminutive moon, Mimas, poses as the Death Star - the planet-destroying space station from the movie Star Wars - in an image recently captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

A giant crater 138 kilometres across dominates the landscape of Mimas and represents almost one-third of the moon's diameter.

Scientists first noticed Mimas's resemblance to the Death Star when the twin Voyager spacecraft flew past Saturn in 1980 and 1981. The second film in the movie series - The Empire Strikes Back - had just hit movie theatres, recalls Cassini deputy project scientist Linda Spilker.

Now, Cassini has taken an even better image than those from the Voyager probes with its narrow-angle camera. It snapped the photo on 16 January 2005 from 213,000 km away at a resolution of 1.3 km per pixel.

Heavy fire
Like the Death Star, Mimas has found itself on the receiving end of some heavy fire. The crater was probably caused by an enormous asteroid impact. But the moon only just survived - if the asteroid had been any bigger or moving much faster, it probably would have split the moon in two.

Most of the craters on Mimas are named after characters in Camelot. But the biggest crater was named after Sir William Herschel, the scientist who discovered Mimas. "Herschel's the oddball crater that doesn't really fit in," Spilker told New Scientist.

The peak in the middle of Herschel crater was also formed by the impact, when pulverised or molten rock rebounded upwards like a droplet of water splashing up from a pool of water.

whatever.. this one will blow any Death Star into tiny little pieces of dust and dirt

Dancelot said:

HOME

Dancelot said:

lilgish said:

I thought this thread might have been about THIS Death Star:

Dancelot said:

Resistance is futile!

This thread is in serious jeaopardy. Very close to fanboy status.....

Dancelot said:

As much as I like the two series, the Borg cube is no match for a Death Star which can wipe out an entire planet with one shot. No amount of shielding can withstand that.

And here it is!!!


Sorry I hadn't seen the first pic in the beginning of the thread. My computer is slow at work.

M
[Edited 6/3/05 9:57am]

TMPletz said:

That's what I was thinking too

Nikster said:

Oooooh spooky!!!! I never noticed that.


M

Strong with the dark side AT+T is...

It looks like an astronomy fanatic got to yearning for a booby.