Does Saturn's 'Death Star' moon have an ocean beneath its surface? New discovery of possible habitable condition explored

Saturn's spectacular Mimas moon, famous for resembling the Death Star from the Star Wars films, is in the news yet again. This time, astronomers have reportedly discovered what appears to be a hidden liquid ocean beneath the natural satellite's thick icy crust. The complete findings were published in Nature.com on Wednesday, February 7.

The finding, announced by the Observatoire de Paris and astrologer Valéry Lainey, could potentially change the definitions for both habitable conditions and ocean moons. Mimas is the third moon of Saturn to have subterranean oceans after Titan and Enceladus had already been found to have contained the same.

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The discovery of water in Saturn's Mimas was labeled as "astonishing" by French astronomer Valéry Lainey

The scientific findings, published on Nature.com on Wednesday, marked a huge moment for Astronomy. Saturn's 250-mile-wide moon, Mimas, was now found to be a celestial body that housed a subterranean ocean. The moon is already quite famous for bearing a heavy resemblance to the Death Star of the Empire from the Star Wars films.

The findings left everyone stunned as Mimas, with its thick icy exterior layer, was never thought to have a subterranean ocean. For instance, the Enceladus, another Saturn moon with underground oceans, was even observed spraying geysers of ocean samples out into space, from where they can be sampled later on.

Astronomers who noticed irregularities in the orbit of Mimass concluded that the moon either housed an ice-covered elongated core or subterranean oceans. Using the extensive images and data recorded by the NASA Cassini mission to Saturn, Astronomers recreated the orbital motion and spin of the celestial body.

After extensive research, French astronomer Valéry Lainey and his team at the Observatoire de Paris concluded that the moon housed a subterranean ocean. The Guardian quoted Lauiney as saying that this was "quite a surprise" as the surface of Mimas showed no evidence. It was, in fact, the "most unlikely" candidate for it. He said,

"There is no way to explain both the spin of Mimas and the orbit with a rigid interior."

He added,

"You definitely need to have global ocean on which the icy shelf can slip."

The research revealed that the ocean showed no evidence of existence at all as it was 12 to 18 miles below the thick icy surface of Saturn's natural satellite. It is said to consist of more than half of Mimas' volume and is also a relatively young phenomenon, approximately between 2 million and 25 million years. Valéry Lainey told Space.com,

"It's really surprising we haven't seen anything, but the thickness of the icy shell of Mimas is enough to maintain this ocean without any significant activity betraying it for millions of years."

He added,

"That's why Cassini did not find anything at the surface of Mimas."

Since water interacting with rock had played a vital role in the origin and consistency of life on Earth when water appeared to be grinding against the core of Mimas, which is also rock, and heating it up, Lainy called it an "interesting chemistry." He told Space.com that such a finding was "astonishing" because-

"Mimas is a small object that looks extremely cold, with no geologic activity, and you would never expect any geophysical activity inside like heating or contact between water and with silicates in its rocky core."

Lainy concluded by asking how many other planets can be inhabitable if something as unlikely as Saturn's Mimas can be.