Saturn's Moon: Mimas Rotation

Mimas was discovered by the astronomer William Herschel on September 17, 1789. He recorded his discovery as follows: "The great light of my forty-foot telescope was so useful that on the 17th of September, 1789, I remarked the seventh satellite, then situated at its greatest western elongation."[
Mimas is named after one of the Titans in Greek mythology, Mimas. The names of all seven then-known satellites of Saturn, including Mimas, were suggested by William Herschel's son John in his 1847 publication Results of Astronomical Observations made at the Cape of Good Hope. He named them after Titans specifically because Saturn (the Roman equivalent of Kronos in Greek mythology), was the leader of the Titans.

Discovered by William Herschel
Discovery date September 17, 1789

Orbital characteristics
Mean orbit radius 185 520 km
Eccentricity 0.020 2
Orbital period 0.942 421 8 d
Inclination 1.51° (to Saturn's equator)
Satellite of Saturn
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 414.8×394.4×381.4 km (0.0311 Earths)
Mean radius 198.30 ± 0.30 km
Surface area ~490 000 km²
Volume ~32 900 000 km3
Mass (3.749 3 ± 0.003 1) × 1019 kg
(6.3 × 10−6 Earths)
Mean density 1.147 9 ± 0.005 3 g/cm3
Equatorial surface gravity 0.063 6 m/s2 (0.648%g)
Escape velocity 0.159 km/s
Rotation period synchronous
Axial tilt zero
Albedo 0.962 ± 0.004 (geometric)
Temperature ~64 K
Apparent magnitude 12.9

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• NASA
• ESA
• mimas
• saturn
• satellite of saturn
• solar system
• astronomy
• casini space craft
• space exploration
• kurd
• kurdistan

[sunslap]

can i get some real footage? nvm going to nasas website

[KurdstanPlanetarium]

@sunslap sure you can get some real photos of Mimas and its famous giant crater Herschel, but you could not get Rotation of the moon as you see it here !

[nbaietti]

doesnt seem to show its rotation but the camera rotating around a still moon... but still... ok, I guess

[KurdstanPlanetarium]

@nbaietti yes its does, you see the moons of outer planets just like ours is bound by tidal forces so they keep the same face to their parent planet, meaning at the same time it takse them to orbit the planet they rotate around their axis too, here the camera is fixed on the moon while you see Saturn goes round, yet you can see the surface features changes.

[mehriel123]

@tjrxk7 Read RINGMAKERS OF SATURN man :)

[MadeInOregon27]

I like burritos.

[TheEvilEmporerBunny]

That's no moon...

[Creamefreche]

That's no moon, it's a space station!

[KurdstanPlanetarium]

@tjrxk7 That shows the early Solar System creation was a violent one, with many objects around (about 100 planets), colliding with each other and re-shaping the process of planetary bodies...This happens to tall the planets as well but we can not see them much, since the planets having atmosphere and internal processes like volcanoes even weathering here on Earth, erased most of that marks. however there are signs of tell tales, like Venus rotation backwards or Uranus tiped on on side..etc.

[BoomStickSgt]

looks like the death star in starwars.

[CarlOreally]

@megaexplosions this is what happens when a star wars geek meets a nerd (lol jk)