Behold: two detailed views of Mimas, one of the major moons of Saturn. To wit:
Peering from the shadows, the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Mimas lies in near darkness alongside a dramatic sunlit crescent. The mosaic was captured near the Cassini spacecraft’s final close approach on January 30, 2017. Cassini’s camera was pointed in a nearly sunward direction only 45,000 kilometres from Mimas.
The result is one of the highest resolution views of the icy, crater-pocked, 400 kilometre diameter moon. An enhanced version better reveals the Saturn-facing hemisphere of the synchronously rotating moon lit by sunlight reflected from Saturn itself. Other Cassini images of Mimas include the small moon’s large and ominous Herschel Crater.
(Image: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA)
