Mimas (moon) Facts for Kids

Mimas, with the Herschel crater clearly seen. This image was made from six pictures taken by the Cassini spacecraft on February 13, 2010. Cassini was about 9,500 km away.

Mimas is one of Saturn's biggest moons. It is also known as Saturn I. Mimas is famous for its huge crater, called Herschel. In the middle of this crater, there is a very tall mountain.

An English astronomer named William Herschel found Mimas on September 17, 1789. Scientists think this moon helped create the Cassini Division. This is a large gap, about 4,800 km wide, between Saturn's A and B rings.

Discovering Mimas
- Who Found Mimas?
- How Mimas Got Its Name
What Mimas Looks Like
- Mimas's Surface and Craters
- Why Mimas Stays Far from the Sun
Exploring Mimas
- Spacecraft That Visited Mimas
Images for kids
See also

Discovering Mimas

Who Found Mimas?

William Herschel discovered Mimas in 1789. He found it on September 17. On the same day, Herschel also found another one of Saturn's moons, Enceladus.

How Mimas Got Its Name

Mimas was named after a character from ancient mythology. In these old stories, Mimas was a giant.

What Mimas Looks Like

Mimas's Surface and Craters

Mimas has many craters, just like our own Moon. But the craters on Mimas are different because they are icy. It's like they were formed by something hitting an icy surface.

The most famous crater on Mimas is the Herschel crater. It is about 130 km (80 miles) wide. This means Herschel crater is about one-third the size of Mimas itself! To give you an idea, if a comet or asteroid that made this crater hit Earth, the crater would be so big you could see it from space, even with the whole Earth in view.

Why Mimas Stays Far from the Sun

Mimas would turn into gas and disappear if it got too close to the Sun. This is because it is made mostly of ice.

Exploring Mimas

Spacecraft That Visited Mimas

Several spacecraft have flown by Mimas to study it. So far, four different missions have explored this moon:

Mimas as seen by the Cassini spacecraft in January 2005.

Images for kids

Artwork showing the telescope William Herschel used to discover Mimas.
Cassini view of Mimas's trailing side, showing craters up to 6 km deep and 1-km-deep grooves. The large crater near the center is Morgan; Arthur is close to the lower right edge. Pelion Chasma is a faint horizontal trough left of Arthur and below Morgan.
Mimas is the tiny white dot in the lower left. (Click to enlarge view.)
Mimas, seen against Saturn's northern areas.
Mimas, appearing behind Saturn's F Ring.
Mimas seen by Cassini, looking clearly egg-shaped.
Mimas and its central mountain (October 22, 2016).
Mimas in front of Saturn's edge (color added) (February 13, 2010).
A mosaic of Mimas, mostly with high resolution.
Mimas shows small color differences (false-color image).
Mimas' bright and dark areas on crater walls (Herschel is at the lower right).
A texture map of Mimas.
A temperature map of Mimas, which many people say looks like Pac-Man.