Mimas ("MY mas") is the seventh of Saturn's known satellites:The
pronunciation "MEE mas" is also acceptable. Mimas was one of the
Titans slain by Hercules. Discovered in 1789 by Herschel. Mimas'
low density (1.17) indicates that it is composed mostly of water
ice with only a small amount of rock. The surface of Mimas is
dominated by an impact crater 130 km across, known as Herschel;
it's almost 1/3 of the diameter of the entire moon. Herschel's
walls are approximately 5 km high, parts of its floor measure 10
km deep, and its central peak rises 6 km above the crater floor.
The impact that made this crater must have nearly disrupted
Mimas. Fractures can be seen on the opposite side of Mimas that
may be due to the same impact. The surface is saturated with
impact craters. But no others are nearly as large as Herschel.
This suggests that early in its history, Mimas was probably
impacted by even larger bodies than the one that created
Herschel which completely disrupted the new moon (wiping out the
evidence of ear