In 2010, while aiming to discover if a change in Mimas' orbit could have caused the Cassini division, the team noticed a strange shift in both the moon's rotation and its orbit.

Because Mimas is losing heat as its orbit becomes less eccentric over time, refreezing — which is only just beginning on Mimas — will cause the overlying ice to crack.

An artist's illustration depicts Mimas in orbit around Saturn. The small moon resembles the Death Star from "Star Wars" films, thanks to a massive crater.

Mimas' rotation and its orbit around Saturn make the moon look like it's rocking and back forth and oscillating similar to the way a pendulum swings. The rocking motion is called libration, ...

Because Mimas is losing heat as its orbit becomes less eccentric over time, refreezing — which is only just beginning on Mimas — will cause the overlying ice to crack.

With Mimas now in a relatively calm orbit, it may not currently experience enough tidal interactions to sustain its ocean. Lainey says Mimas’ interior may begin to freeze again, never having a ...

Saturn’s moon Mimas appears to have a vast global ocean underneath its icy shell, according to close measurements of its orbit. If other icy worlds have similar oceans, it could increase the ...

One possible explanation: Changing tidal forces inside the moon fomented by the Mimas's elliptical orbit could cause a warming friction between the ocean and the crust. Not everybody is buying ...

Of Saturn's seven major moons, Mimas orbits closest to the planet, taking less than a day to complete an orbit. It's also the smallest of the major moons, with a diameter of just under 400 ...

Hidden depths. Slight changes in the orbit of Saturn’s moon Mimas hint at the presence of a vast, young ocean beneath the satellite’s icy surface that may have formed between 5 million and 50 ...