Goddard Instrument Aboard Cassini Spacecraft Sees ‘Pac-Man’ on Saturn Moon
The highest-resolution-yet temperature map and images of Saturn’s icy moon Mimas obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft reveal surprising patterns on the surface of the small moon, including unexpected hot regions that resemble “Pac-Man” eating a dot, and striking bands of light and dark in crater walls.
images of Mimas The left portion of this image shows Mimas in visible light, an image that has drawn comparisons to the “Star Wars” Death Star. The right portion shows the new temperature map, which resembles 1980s video game icon “Pac Man.”
Credit: NASA/JPL/Goddard/SWRI/SSI
“Other moons usually grab the spotlight, but it turns out Mimas is more bizarre than we thought it was,” said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “It has certainly given us some new puzzles.”
Cassini collected the data on Feb. 13, during its closest flyby of the moon, which is marked by an enormous scar called Herschel Crater and resembles the Death Star from “Star Wars.”
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