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04/20/2024 03:05:36 am

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Mimas, Saturn's "Death Star" Moon, Has a Hidden Ocean

Mimas

(Photo : Wikipedia) Saturn's moon, Mimas, apparently holds a sea beneath its surface

A new study reveals that Mimas, one of Saturn's lesser known moons, has an unusual rotational "wobble" that could be caused by a liquid core. 

Although NASA's Cassini spacecraft probe has been observing Saturn and its moons for 10 years, Mimas was never paid any attention and was usurped by other moons such as Titan with its methane sea and Enceladus with its water vapor geysers.

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Mimas apparently possess a bizarre rotational wobble bigger than previously thought, said Radwan Tajeddine, a planetary scientist at Cornell University.

He noted astronomers initially thought Mimas was a boring satellite. Tajeddine adds this back and forth motion of Mimas apparently displaces six kilometers of its surface and not three kilometers as previously surmised.

Scientists are now baffled by this phenomenon and believe that even if Mimas possesses a rather dull terrain, there's some dynamic activity under the surface caused by this rotational wobble.

Using a 3-D model based on Cassini's data, scientists have determined that Mimas' interior core isn't uniform and stable. These rhythmic wobbles are the result of an odd shaped rocky core or even a sub surface ocean located inside the dreary moon.

Tajeddine told the American Association for the Advancement of Science he believes the lunar sub ocean theory more than the rocky core. He believes Saturn's gravitational forces disturb Mimas' strange orbit, causing tidal heating and a liquid core.

Mimas can now be categorized as a sea-bearing moon along with Enceladus and Titan of Saturn and the Jovian moons, Callisto, Ganymede and Europa.

Mimas is named after the Gigantes son of Gaia in Greek mythology.

This study of Mima's rotational wobble and its sub surface ocean was published in the journal, Science.

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