Staff Reports
In a cosmic twist straight out of a Star Wars saga, those stargazing geniuses have found mind-blowing evidence of a hidden ocean under the icy surface of Saturn’s mini moon, Mimas. We’re talking about a big secret here, folks – a colossal sea buried 12 to 18 miles beneath the moon’s frozen exterior. Move over, Death Star, Mimas has a surprise of its own!
Ocean discovered inside Saturn’s moon Mimas https://t.co/oE5MqyytWA https://t.co/oE5MqyytWA
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 22, 2024
Using some fancy observations from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft and studying the way Mimas moves around, a team of French scientists dropped the bombshell revelation on Wednesday. These brainy French folks are saying that this hidden ocean is more likely to be chilling beneath Mimas than a boring old rocky core. Like, seriously, who would’ve thought this tiny moon could be holding onto such a massive secret?
Now, before you start rolling your eyes and thinking this all sounds like science fiction, peep this: The study was dropped in the prestigious journal Nature. That’s like the VIP section of the science world, y’all. It’s the real deal.
But wait, it gets even wilder. Get this: Mimas, Saturn’s smallest little moon, doesn’t even look like your average moon. It’s not even round! It’s only 123 miles across and it’s all lumpy and misshapen. And get this, it has this humongous crater that makes it look like it got punched in the face. It’s the second biggest crater on any moon in the whole universe! They named it Herschel, after the dude who discovered the moon back in 1789. This crater is like 80 miles wide, which is like a third of the whole face of Mimas. Insanity, right?
And hold onto your space helmets, because there’s more. So far, the only things these smarty-pants astronomers have found on Mimas are water and ice. Oh, and by the way, this hidden ocean we’re talking about is like half the size of the whole moon, filling up nearly all of its insides. Plus, get this: It might even have a warm temperature down there, despite the freezing cold up top. It’s like Mimas is hiding its own little hot tub party under all that ice! Can you imagine what kind of crazy creatures might be swimming around in there?
But anyway, all this wild stuff is kind of hard to wrap our heads around, right? That’s probably why even the scientists are scratching their heads. They’re like, “Mimas? A potentially habitable world? What the heck?” Nobody really knows how long it takes for life to pop up in a place like that.
Bottom line, this tiny moon has got everyone’s minds blown. It’s like finding out your quiet, nerdy neighbor is secretly a rockstar. Who’d have thought that Mimas, with its weird shape and ginormous crater, could be hiding such an out-of-this-world secret? And don’t even get started on the age of this wacky ocean surprise. These eggheads are saying it’s less than 25 million years old. In space years, that’s like yesterday!
So, as you go about your day, just remember: the universe is full of surprises, and even the smallest, quirkiest moon around could be hiding the biggest secrets. Watch out, Death Star – Mimas has just stolen the spotlight!
