{"id":776834,"date":"2024-02-11T19:38:56","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T00:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=776834"},"modified":"2024-02-11T19:38:56","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T00:38:56","slug":"death-star-moon-mimas-has-a-hidden-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=776834","title":{"rendered":"Death Star moon Mimas has a hidden ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mimas Has an Ocean!\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-3sNCU6hiF8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/><em>Mimas has an ocean! Wow!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Queen Mary University of London originally published this announcement of an ocean for Mimas on February 7, 2024. EarthSky edited the version you see here. ChatGPT and Deborah Byrd created the 3-point summary.<\/p>\n<h3>Key points about Mimas\u2019 ocean<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Saturn\u2019s moon Mimas<\/strong> has a hidden ocean, only 20 to 30 kilometers (12-18 miles) below its heavily cratered and icy surface. <\/li>\n<li><strong>The little moon\u2019s ocean<\/strong> probably formed relatively recently, only 5 to 15 million years ago, due to tidal \u201csqueezing\u201d of Mimas by Saturn.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mimas is now<\/strong> the smallest of the known moons with an ocean. It\u2019s another place to look for life in our solar system!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2024 lunar calendars on sale now. Makes a great gift! Check it out here.<\/p>\n<h3>Mimas has a hidden ocean<\/h3>\n<p>All these years, Saturn\u2019s small moon Mimas has had a secret. Beneath this little moon\u2019s heavily cratered surface lies a global ocean of liquid water. Astronomer Val\u00e9ry Lainey of the Observatoire de Paris-PSL and his team made this discovery by analyzing data from the Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn, weaving among its moons, from 2004 to 2017. The work reveals a \u201cyoung\u201d ocean formed just 5 to 15 million years ago, making Mimas a prime target for studying the origin of life in our solar system. <\/p>\n<p>Lainey et al. published their work in the peer-reviewed journal <em>Nature<\/em> on February 7, 2024. <\/p>\n<p>Astronomer Nick Cooper \u2013 at Queen Mary University of London \u2013 is a co-author on the study. He commented:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Mimas is a small moon, only about 400 kilometers [250 miles] in diameter. And its heavily cratered surface gave no hint of the hidden ocean beneath. This discovery adds Mimas to an exclusive club of moons with internal oceans, including Saturn\u2019s moon Enceladus and Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa. But with a unique difference: Mimas\u2019 ocean is remarkably young, estimated to be only 5 to 15 million years old. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_465163\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-465163\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-465163\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">We know of other moons in our solar system \u2013 orbiting the gas giant planets Jupiter or Saturn \u2013 that appear to have hidden oceans beneath their icy surfaces. But Mimas is the smallest of these worlds. Notice Enceladus, another small moon of Saturn. It\u2019s about 500 kilometers (310 miles) wide. Mimas is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) wide. The image is a screenshot from the video below, via Queen Mary University of London.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>A young ocean for a tiny moon<\/h3>\n<p>Astronomers confirmed the existence of Mimas\u2019 ocean \u2013 and the young age of the ocean \u2013 through detailed analysis of tidal interactions between Mimas and  Saturn. In other words, Saturn\u2019s gravity squeezes the little moon, as the moon orbits the planet. The work suggests the ocean formed recently. And it\u2019s only been recently that two other Saturn moons \u2013 Enceladus and Tethys \u2013 disturbed Mimas\u2019 orbit, sending it into an orbit that would allow Saturn to squeeze it so effectively. <\/p>\n<p>Scientists say the young age of the ocean gives them a unique window into the early stages of ocean formation and the potential for life to emerge. Cooper explained:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The existence of a recently formed liquid water ocean makes Mimas a prime candidate for study, for researchers investigating the origin of life.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The scientists made the discovery by analyzing data from NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft, which meticulously studied Saturn and its moons for over a decade. By closely examining the subtle changes in Mimas\u2019 orbit, the researchers were able to infer the presence of a hidden ocean and estimate its size and depth. For details on how they made the discovery, watch the video below:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mimas film\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ILpnLYLsFUk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<h3>What does Mimas mean for life?<\/h3>\n<p>The scientists agree that the discovery of Mimas\u2019 young ocean might help us increase our understanding of the potential for life beyond Earth. <\/p>\n<p>The existence of an ocean in such a small moon suggests that even small, seemingly inactive moons can harbor hidden oceans capable of supporting life-essential conditions. <\/p>\n<p>So the hidden ocean of the little moon Mimas opens up exciting new avenues for future exploration. It might lead us closer to answering the age-old question: are we alone in the universe?<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_465124\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-465124\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2024\/02\/Mimas_Cassini-e1707430563788.jpg\" alt=\"Death Star moon Mimas: Round, heavily cratered moon with one gigantic crater.\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-full wp-image-465124\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-465124\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The most significant feature on Saturn\u2019s Death Star moon Mimas is its Herschel crater, which stretches 1\/3 of the way across the little moon\u2019s face. The crater is the reason Mimas carries a nickname for the fictional gargantuan space station \u2013 armed with a planet-destroying superlaser \u2013 in the <em>Star Wars<\/em> franchise. Image via NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft on its closest-ever flyby of Mimas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Bottom line: Saturn\u2019s moon Mimas has now become the smallest moon known to harbor a hidden ocean of liquid water beneath its icy surface. Scientists made the discovery using Cassini spacecraft data.<\/p>\n<p>Source: A recently formed ocean inside Saturn\u2019s moon Mimas <\/p>\n<p>Via Queen Mary University of London<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"cp-load-after-post\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"post-author\">\n<h4>EarthSky Voices<\/h4>\n<p>                    View Articles\n                  <\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-tags\">\n<h6 data-udy-fe=\"text_7c58270d\">About the Author:<\/h6>\n<p>Members of the EarthSky community &#8211; including scientists, as well as science and nature writers from across the globe &#8211; weigh in on what&#8217;s important to them.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/space\/mimas-moon-of-saturn-has-a-subsurface-ocean\/?rand=772280\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mimas has an ocean! Wow! Queen Mary University of London originally published this announcement of an ocean for Mimas on February 7, 2024. EarthSky edited the version you see here.&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":776835,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-776834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-sky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=776834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/776835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=776834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=776834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=776834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}