Mimas (moon) - Unusual Resemblances

Unusual Resemblances

When seen from certain angles, Mimas resembles the Death Star, a fictional space station known from the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, which is said to be roughly 140 kilometres in diameter. This resemblance stems from the fact that Herschel can appear in Mimas's northern hemisphere, much like the concave disc of the Death Star's "superlaser". This is purely coincidental, as the first film was made nearly three years before the first close-up photographs of Mimas were taken.

In 2010, NASA revealed a temperature map of Mimas, using images obtained by Cassini. The warmest regions, which are along one edge of the moon, create a shape similar to the video game character Pac-Man, with Herschel Crater assuming the role of an "edible dot" or "power pellet" known from Pac-Man gameplay.

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