Incredible sharp and clear image taken of Saturns Moon Mimas by NASA - Feb 1, 2017

Mimas is a moon of Saturn which was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel

This quality of this picture is just incredible, remember to check out the original full size.

This raw, unprocessed image of Mimas was taken on January 30, 2017 and received on Earth February 1, 2017. The camera was pointing toward Mimas at approximately 42933 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and GRN filters.

With a diameter of 396 kilometres (246 mi) it is the smallest astronomical body that is known to be rounded in shape because of self-gravitation.

ciclops.org...

a reply to: Spacespider

That is beautiful.

Just stunning. The contrasts between light and dark, the craters and the mounds between them... This is one of those images that on its own, excuses the human eye for all the ugliness it has ever seen, just on the merit of this one example of beauty.

a reply to: Spacespider

Amazing thanks, I would like to add to that picture that because of its size it could quiet easily be a gall bladder stone released from Saturn.

Looks almost like a setting prop, beautiful.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Yeah the lumpy sonofagun makes me smile

a reply to: Spacespider

First thing i thought of was golf ball before they became cut proof . Awesome pic .

a reply to: Spacespider

Awesome!

Thanks for sharing!

a reply to: Spacespider

From the pounding it has taken from an endless barrage of lesser bodies, it seems safe to suggest that it was forged into its ball shape by the non-stop, if indeed, slow, re-distribution of its surface materials.

a reply to: Spacespider

That is a cool picture , is it a Moon or a golf ball ?

Cassini just keeps on giving.

The method they use to get those photographs must still be classified.
Anyone know if the real name of the Groom Lake base is 61 characters long?
I searched for "Los Alamos "still me"" nothing came up?
When did the Poles decide that guys site was too sensitive?

a reply to: Spacespider
I see what you did there.

With a diameter of 396 kilometres (246 mi) it is the smallest astronomical body that is known to be rounded in shape because of self-gravitation.

Pretty soon, somebody's gonna have to admit that science got it wrong again. Fancy-pants words or completely ignoring the elephant in the room is such crap.

A solid round ball floating around in space ... hmmmmm ...

a reply to: Spacespider


THAT'S NO MOON!

a reply to: Spacespider

It looks like a giant fluffy candy apple made of marshmallow- great, now i'm hungry.

I only know Mimas by name but it looks like it's tidally locked and It looks like there are a few impact craters-Perhaps strays from Saturns rings? all I know is moons can provide more information on stellar gestation (That one's on the house Professor DeGrasse Tyson) and can shed light on the evolution of our solar system and other systems.

a reply to: Spacespider

that is really amazing, looks like that poor thing had the worst chicken pox scars

This is very cool, and we're gonna get even cooler closeup images as Cassini spacecraft nears the end of its mission and swings closer and closer to Saturn.

I've created this true-colour image of Mimas from raw Cassini images taken through red, green, and blue filters:



What's also cool is that the nightside half of Mimas is backlit by saturnshine (sunlight reflected off Saturn).

Cassini also took this great shot of the sunlit side of Mimas:



That's one heavily cratered moon!

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Speaking of great Cassini closeups, here's one of Epimetheus (a very cool name for a moon!)



It's almost like Cassini was coming in for a landing!

The raw image here: saturnraw.jpl.nasa.gov...

Thanks for posting the raw unprocessed image of Mimas; very interesting, it has really been hammered. Resolution at that distance is excellent.


Mimas is composed mostly of ice water ice with a small amount of rock which accounts for the deep craters and high rims as compared to our own denser Moon.

To think some craters are over 250 miles in diameter and that the original collider was 12 to 25 miles across and vapourised instantly at the point of collision.

originally posted by: stormcell
To think some craters are over 250 miles in diameter and that the original collider was 12 to 25 miles across and vapourised instantly at the point of collision.

Or it sank into the Mimantian depths.

originally posted by: stormcell
To think some craters are over 250 miles in diameter and that the original collider was 12 to 25 miles across and vapourised instantly at the point of collision.

The Original Post states that Mimas is only 246 miles in diameter.

It looks like a very lonely place.

How can there be such a wide variety of moons circling Saturn? Some are smooth, some are crater-lumpy...Titan almost looks like it has an atmosphere, with clouds.

The theory of the solar system's formation is that clumps of materials cooled to form the planets and their satellites. If true, shouldn't the "clump" that coalesced into the Saturn and it's moons, be made of the same material..thereby causing all the moons to look nearly the same?

originally posted by: carewemust
How can there be such a wide variety of moons circling Saturn? Some are smooth, some are crater-lumpy...Titan almost looks like it has an atmosphere, with clouds.

Titan does have an atmosphere, quite a big and thick one too. Relatively smooth moons (like Enceladus) are so because they are covered in ice which gets constantly renewed from the ocean below it. Each moon has its own geological processes, that's why they look so different.

The theory of the solar system's formation is that clumps of materials cooled to form the planets and their satellites. If true, shouldn't the "clump" that coalesced into the Saturn and it's moons, be made of the same material..thereby causing all the moons to look nearly the same?

The moons are pretty much made of the same material (mostly water ice with some rocks inside, and hydrocarbons on the surface). But Saturn, being so incredibly massive, managed to hold on to all that Hydrogen that was surrounding it when it formed.