We reported just a few days ago about the Saturnian moon Mimas. Mimas is a small moon that has an impact crater on it that makes it look like the Death Star from Star Wars. This impact crater is called the Herschel impact crater, which is named after the discoverer of the moon. The Herschel impact crater is 130 kilometers across, with walls that are 5 kilometers high. On Feb. 13, 2010, Cassini took a look at the Herschel impact crater. While Cassini flew within 5,900 miles of Mimas, these images were taken at a distance of approximately 10,000 miles.
The image shows terrain-dependent color variations, particularly the contrast between the bluish materials in and around Herschel Crater and the greenish cast on older, more heavily cratered terrain elsewhere. The origin of the color differences is not yet understood, but may be caused by differences in the surface composition between the two terrains. False color images from Cassini’s previous closest encounter, in 2005, also showed such variations.
The natural color of Mimas visible to the human eye may be a uniform gray or yellow color, but this mosaic has been contrast-enhanced and shows differences at other wavelengths of light.
