The gas giant Saturn, in addition to being surrounded by rings, has 82 moons orbiting around it. These vary in composition, color, size or shape. Each one with its own characteristics, but one stands out from the rest.
Saturn has some famous moons such as Enceladus or Titan, the latter is the objective of future NASA’s Dragonfly mission. And then there’s Mimas, the moon best known for its more than reasonable resemblance to the “Death Star” from Star Wars. Beyond going to an observatory or lying down to observe the sky in a place where there is no light pollution, we can learn about stars, planets, moons, constellations, etc. through astronomy programs. The fact is that Mimas also stands out for the possibility of housing an underground water system, or at least that is what scientists believe.
Mimas, Saturn’s moon
Its name comes from Greek mythology and this moon draws attention for its appearance. A satellite that is covered by a layer of ice that reaches 31 kilometers thick. Its icy surface bears a particular resemblance to “The Death Star” from Star Wars due to its gigantic crater.
In addition to its appearance, this celestial body stands out for the possibility that it hides an underground water system inside. A study published in the journal Icarus presents evidence that Mimas could have liquid deep below its icy surface.
“If Mimas does have an ocean, it represents a new class of small ‘stealth’ ocean worlds with surfaces that do not betray the existence of the ocean,” lead author Alyssa Rhoden said in a statement from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI).
IWOW: Inner Water Ocean Worlds
The acronym IWOW is used to define inland ocean worlds. Among them Enceladus, Titan and Jupiter’s fascinating moon Europa. Very interesting places, since they can be habitable for microbial life. Larger moons tend to have geological activity on their surfaces that hints at what’s going on below.
During NASA’s Cassini mission, this space probe that orbited saturn and flew by several of its moons, identified an intriguing wobble in Mimas’s rotation. Oscillations of this type usually denote that the star is a geologically active body, therefore, it would be capable of hosting an internal ocean.
Everything indicates that in the subsoil of Mimas there is a sea of liquid water isolated under the stable crust of ice. If true, Mimas will be the first example of a new class of worlds with subterranean seas.
“It turns out that the surface of Mimas was playing tricks on us, and our new understanding has greatly expanded the definition of a potentially habitable world in our solar system and beyond,” Rhoden said.
The example of Mimas also leads one to think of the possibility that one of Uranus’s moons also has subterranean oceans of liquid water, potentially capable of supporting life.