On This Day In Space: Sept. 17, 1789: Saturn’s ‘Death Star’ moon Mimas discovered

NeRD

On Sept. 17, 1789, the British astronomer William Herschel discovered Saturn’s “Death Star” moon, Mimas. 

Meet Mimas: Saturn’s Death Star Moon

Of course, “Star Wars” wasn’t a thing at the time, and no one had ever heard of something called a “Death Star.” But there’s no denying that this moon looks just like it. 

This mosaic, created from images taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft during its closest flyby of Saturn’s moon Mimas on Feb. 13, 2010, looks straight at the moon’s Herschel crater and reveals new insights about the moon’s surface. Herschel crater gives Mimas its Death Star appearance. It is about 80 miles (130 kilometers) wide.  (Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

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Anyway, Herschel was a guy who liked to build telescopes and discover things, like the planet Uranus, tiny moons around Jupiter and Saturn, and other stuff out there in space. Shortly after he invented a huge new kind of reflecting telescope called the Herschelian telescope, he spotted Mimas orbiting Saturn. 

Mimas is super tiny with a diameter of less than 250 miles. It is the smallest known spherical body in space that is held together by self-gravitation.

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