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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

This is quite a impact crater on Mimas. Not just a glancing blow, it looks like a direct head on impact. It most certainly altered the orbit of Mimas from where ever it came from, and I believe that Saturn captured it eventually.

Jul 26, 2004 - Cassini returned this image of Saturn's moon Mimas, which looks surprisingly similar to the Death Star from Star Wars. Mimas is 398 km (247 miles) across, and that's not a superlaser you see, but a giant crater called Herschel, which is a third the size of the moon itself. Cassini took this image on July 3, 2004, when the spacecraft was 1.7 million km (1 millions miles) away. Cassini will get a better view on August 2, 2005, when the spacecraft makes a distant flyby of heavily cratered moon.

More here: www.universetoday.com/am/publish/saturns_death_star_mimas.html?2672004

Courtesy of Universe Today

[starbux]

Low res, but a nice shot of Herschel.

Until a year from now we will have to look at the Voyager shot for the best images of Mimas:

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

These are great shots of Mimas. It certainly is not just a captured asteroid, but an actual world. The central peak amazes me.

The two different perspective images show good detail.

Thanks for the additional image.

I wonder what the rotation of Mimas is.