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Collection:
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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Collection
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Collection
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Title:
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Mimas: Small Moon with A Big Crater
Title
Mimas: Small Moon with A Big Crater
Title
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Explanation:
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Mimas [ http://seds.lpl.ari…] is one of the smaller moons of Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] but shows one of the largest impact craters! In fact, if the impact had been much greater, it would have disrupted the entire satellite. The large crater has been named Herschel after the 1789 discoverer of Mimas, Sir William Herschel [ http://star.arm.ac.…]. Mimas' low mass produces a surface gravity just strong enough to create a spherical body but weak enough to allow such relatively large surface features. Mimas [ http://www.c3.lanl.…] is made of mostly water ice with a smattering of rock - so it is accurately described as a big dirty snowball. Voyager [ http://vraptor.jpl.…] 1 flew by in 1980 and took the above picture.
Explanation
Mimas [ http://seds.lpl.ari…] is one of the smaller moons of Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] but shows one of the largest impact craters! In fact, if the impact had been much greater, it would have disrupted the entire satellite. The large crater has been named Herschel after the 1789 discoverer of Mimas, Sir William Herschel [ http://star.arm.ac.…]. Mimas' low mass produces a surface gravity just strong enough to create a spherical body but weak enough to allow such relatively large surface features. Mimas [ http://www.c3.lanl.…] is made of mostly water ice with a smattering of rock - so it is accurately described as a big dirty snowball. Voyager [ http://vraptor.jpl.…] 1 flew by in 1980 and took the above picture. Explanation
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Credit and Copyright:
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Credit_and_Copyright
Credit and Copyright
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facet_when:
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1980
facet_when
1980
facet_when
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facet_where:
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Arizona
facet_where
Arizona
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Saturn
facet_where
Saturn
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where
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facet_what:
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Voyager
facet_what
Voyager
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Moon
facet_what
Moon
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Saturn
facet_what
Saturn
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Crater
facet_what
Crater
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Mimas
facet_what
Mimas
facet_what
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facet_what:
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crater
facet_what
crater
facet_what
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facet_what:
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moon
facet_what
moon
facet_what
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facet_when_year:
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1980
facet_when_year
1980
facet_when_year
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original url:
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original_url
original url
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UID:
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SPD-APOD-ap950924
UID
SPD-APOD-ap950924
UID
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