One of Saturn’s smallest moons, Mimas, hides a vast ocean beneath its icy surface full of craters, suggests a study published this Wednesday in the scientific journal Nature.
According to the work, coordinated by the Paris Observatory, in France, the ocean is between five and 15 million years old, which makes Mimas a prime target for studying the origins of life in the Solar System (liquid water is an essential element for life as we know it).
The “young” age of this underground ocean was estimated from analysis of Mimas’ tidal interactions with Saturn, the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter.
By analyzing subtle changes in the moon’s orbit and rotation, the study authors were able to infer the presence of the internal ocean and estimate its size and depth.
The Mimas Ocean, which scientists believe fills half the moon’s volume, will be about 400 kilometers in diameter and is 20 to 30 kilometers below the icy crust.
It is equivalent to just 1.2% to 1.4% of the Earth’s oceans
Given Mimas’ small size – Jupiter is about 140,000 kilometers in diameter – the ocean on this moon of Saturn is equivalent to just 1.2% to 1.4% of Earth’s oceans.
Read more:
How Luxembourg wants to conquer the Moon
In their work, the researchers analyzed data from the US space probe Cassini, which orbited Saturn and its moons for more than 10 years.
Discovered in 1789 by British astronomer William Herschel, Mimas is named after a giant from Greek mythology and completes the family of rare moons in the Solar System that have liquid water beneath their icy surface – Europa and Ganymede (moons of Jupiter) and Enceladus and Titan (moons of Saturn).
2024-02-08 09:38:34
#Mimas #Saturns #smallest #moons #hides #vast #ocean
