What is the large crater on Saturn's moon Mimas called?
Answer
Herschel
Answer
Herschel
What is the large crater on Saturn’s moon Mimas called? It is called Herschel. This enormous impact crater dominates Mimas’s surface and spans about 139 kilometres, nearly one-third of the moon’s mean diameter.
The impact was so energetic that it may have nearly shattered Mimas. Disrupted terrain on the side opposite Herschel is consistent with shock waves travelling through the small moon. The crater has walls about 5 kilometres high, a floor reaching roughly 10 kilometres deep in places, and a central peak rising about 6 kilometres.
Herschel is named after William Herschel, who discovered Mimas in 1789. Its scale gives Mimas a resemblance to the Death Star, although Voyager 1 did not reveal the crater clearly until 1980, years after the film appeared. Another common mix-up involves Odysseus, the giant crater on Saturn’s moon Tethys; Herschel belongs specifically to Mimas.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026