Saturn is an interesting planet. It’s big, for one thing — second only to Jupiter within our solar system — and it has that incredibly unique system of rings that distinguish it from its sister planets. But one of the most intriguing things about Saturn has little to do with the planet itself: its moons are attracting more and more attention in the astronomical community, and rightfully so.
In total, Saturn has at least five dozen moons. Its largest moon, Titan, is actually bigger in size than the planet Mercury, and has its own atmosphere. The Cassini probe, launched by NASA in 1997 (in conjunction with the European Space Agency), reached Titan in 2004 and has done a remarkable job of photographing and mapping areas of Titan that have shown it to be surprisingly Earth-like in many ways. For more on the Cassini mission, here’s a very impressive website from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory with all sorts of fun, interactive information. You can even take a virtual tour of Cassini, or of Titan.
But even while Titan gets the lion’s share of attention, another of Saturn’s moons, Mimas, is making headlines this week. You can get the full story from our friends at Space.com, but in a nutshell, Cassini has taken some high-resolution, heat-sensitive images that open up a whole new set of questions about Mimas. Better still, fans of retro pop culture (and who isn’t these days?) can get a chuckle over how Mimas looks an awful lot like the infmaous Death Star from Star Wars… or how the infrared images look surprisingly similar to the beloved arcade game Pac-Man.
Check out the pictures, and the story, and judge for yourself. One thing is for sure: we’ll be hearing a lot more from the depths of Saturn’s moons this year. You can bet on it.