On Sept. 17, 1789, the British astronomer William Herschel discovered Saturn's "Death Star" moon, Mimas.
Of course, "Star Wars" wasn't a thing at the time, and no one had ever heard of something called a "Death Star." But there's no denying that this moon looks just like it. Anyway, Herschel was a guy who liked to build telescopes and discover things, like the planet Uranus, tiny moons around Jupiter and Saturn, and other stuff out there in space. Shortly after he invented a huge new kind of reflecting telescope called the Herschelian telescope, he spotted Mimas orbiting Saturn. Mimas is super tiny with a diameter of less than 250 miles. It is the smallest known spherical body in space that is held together by self-gravitation.
Of course, "Star Wars" wasn't a thing at the time, and no one had ever heard of something called a "Death Star." But there's no denying that this moon looks just like it. Anyway, Herschel was a guy who liked to build telescopes and discover things, like the planet Uranus, tiny moons around Jupiter and Saturn, and other stuff out there in space. Shortly after he invented a huge new kind of reflecting telescope called the Herschelian telescope, he spotted Mimas orbiting Saturn. Mimas is super tiny with a diameter of less than 250 miles. It is the smallest known spherical body in space that is held together by self-gravitation.
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00:00On this day in space.
00:04In 1789, the British astronomer William Herschel discovered Saturn's
00:08Death Star moon, Mimas. Of course, Star Wars wasn't a thing
00:12at the time, and no one had ever heard of something called a Death Star. But there's no
00:16denying that this moon looks just like it. Anyway, Herschel was a guy
00:20who liked to build telescopes and discover things, like the planet Uranus, tiny moons
00:24around Jupiter and Saturn, and other stuff out there in space. Shortly after he
00:28invented a huge new kind of reflecting telescope called the Herschelian telescope, he spotted
00:32Mimas orbiting Saturn. Mimas is a super tiny moon with a diameter
00:36of less than 250 miles. It is the smallest known spherical
00:40body in space that is held together by self-gravitation. And that's what happened
00:44on this day in space.