The much-waited images of Saturn's big moon, Tethys, taken by NASA Cassini spacecraft may easily pass off as the planet's own Death Star Mimas.
The image of Tethys has been compared by NASA to an eyeball, conspicuous for the presence of Odysseus crater. The death star look was compounded by the circular mark on the left adding more sharpness to the resemblance with the Empire's planet-destroying space station made famous by the Star Wars franchise.
Tethys' image was taken by Cassini spacecraft on Nov. 10 at a distance of approximately 228,000 miles from the icy moon.
Eyeball Appearance
Tethys is the fifth largest moon of Saturn among its 53 confirmed moons and is "composed almost entirely of water ice plus a small amount of rock," according to NASA. Tethys' temperatures are at around -305 degrees Fahrenheit.
As noted, the Saturnian icy moon's image is like an eyeball staring off into space. The fiery look by Tethys is contributed by the deep crater borne by the moon with the name Odysseus along with a web of high peaks.
Spread in 660 miles, Tethys bears many marks of impacts that shaped its appearance. Big impacts led to the formation of the crater Odysseus and the retreat formed mountain peaks named as Scheria Montes, in the middle of the crater.
Image Of Mimas
Meanwhile, Cassini also sent a detailed image of Saturn's Death Star moon Mimas — one of the most ominous moons of Saturn.
NASA has already released the image on its official website.
Mimas earned the nickname "Death Star" from the movie Star Wars for its resemblance to the famous spacecraft.
Cassini captured the image of Mimas when it got close to the moon on Oct. 22, 2016. The images vividly showed Mimas', Herschel Crater.
Daphnis Images
NASA's Cassini mission since 2004 has been very profuse in offering incredible views of Saturn and its ring systems.
Thanks to Cassini's ring grazing, many fine images have been unveiled. Recently, the dazzling photos of Daphnis -- Saturn's tiny moon highlighted many processes at work in Saturn's rings.
The images of Daphnis showed the ripples caused by the gravities of the small moon when it plowed through the 26-mile-wide gap Keeler Gap with a dramatic effect on the particles at the gap's borders.
Cassini is a collaborative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency,
The Cassini mission is coming to an end in September 2017. After a long study of Saturn for 12 years, Cassini will be ending itself on 15 September by plunging into the Saturn's atmosphere. As a memorable space mission, the joint U.S-European mission has been able to transform the understanding of the Saturn.
