土卫一: 有大撞击坑的小卫星

土卫一: 有大撞击坑的小卫星

Mimas: Small Moon with a Big Crater
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Space Science Institute, Cassini

Explanation: Whatever hit Mimas nearly destroyed it. What remains is one of the largest impact craters on one of Saturn‘s smallest round moons. Analysis indicates that a slightly larger impact would have destroyed Mimas entirely. The huge crater, named Herschel after the 1789 discoverer of Mimas, Sir William Herschel, spans about 130 kilometers and is featured here. 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 is made of mostly water ice with a smattering of rock – so it is accurately described as a big dirty snowball. The featured image was taken during the closest-ever flyby of the robot spacecraft Cassini past Mimas in 2010 while in orbit around Saturn.

Interactive: Take a trek across Mimas
January 14: Zoom APOD Lecture hosted by the Amateur Astronomers of Association of New York
Tomorrow’s picture: sunny comet

土卫一: 有大撞击坑的小卫星
影像提供: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Space Science Institute, Cassini

说明: 不管它是被什么撞了，土卫一几乎被摧毁。此次撞击给土星的这颗小卫星，留下一个土星小卫星之中最大的撞击坑。分析指出只要撞击的规模再稍大一点，土卫一就会粉身碎骨。这幅影像所示的这个130公里宽的赫歇尔坑，是以1789年发现土卫一的威廉·赫歇尔爵士为名。小质量的土卫一所产生的表面重力，刚好强到能让它聚成球体，不过也弱到让这种相对大型的表面结构得以留存下来。土卫一的主成分是水冰，并间杂了少量石块，故称它为大脏雪球相当贴切。这幅主题影像，是由当时在绕行木星的卡西尼号探测器，于2010年史上最近距离掠过土卫一时所拍摄。

互动: 穿越土卫一
1月14日: 由纽约业余天文学家协会主办的线上APOD讲座
明日的图片: sunny comet

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