Astronomy Picture of the Day
NASA Release | 6 August 2019
Mimas in Saturnlight Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA
Peering from the shadows, the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Mimas lies in near darkness alongside a dramatic sunlit crescent. The mosaic was captured near the Cassini spacecraft's final close approach on January 30, 2017. Cassini's camera was pointed in a nearly sunward direction only 45,000 kilometers from Mimas. The result is one of the highest resolution views of the icy, crater-pocked, 400 kilometer diameter moon. An enhanced version better reveals the Saturn-facing hemisphere of the synchronously rotating moon lit by sunlight reflected from Saturn itself. Other Cassini images of Mimas include the small moon's large and ominous Herschel Crater.
