This false
color image of Saturn’s
moon Mimas reveals variation in the moon’s surface composition or texture.
NASA’s Cassini orbiter approached the moon on Aug 2, 2005 and took
pictures of Mimas
using several different filtered lenses. The combination of ultraviolet, green,
infra-red, and clear filtered images highlights the differences between the
spectral properties of the materials that make up Mimas’ surface.
The areas
shaded in blue or violet represent surface materials that have weaker infrared
brightness than average Mimas materials, which are highlighted in green.
The moon’s dominant
feature, the 140 km (88 mile) wide Herschel crater,
is surrounded by some of the bluer materials. But these materials are not
evenly distributed – they appear to be concentrated outer edge of the west side
of the crater.
This
concentration difference is not yet understood, but may represent material that
was blasted out from the inside of Mimas when the crater was created. Or, the
blue color may show subtle differences in the composition or size of surface
materials.
