Saturn's 'Death Star' moon could have a secret underground ocean

The Herschel Crater is shown in the image snapped by the camera of the Cassini mission. The image is from NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.

The search for life in our solar system is being aided by the discovery of an ocean beneath the surface of the Death Star moon.

The first clue that the moon could be a "stealth ocean world" was revealed by the wobble in the moon's rotation that was spotted by the NASA probe.
The new research suggests that the wobble could be the result of a liquid ocean trapped under the moon's surface. Researchers say that Mimas is a new type of world if this is the case. The discovery of the tiny moon's secret ocean could mean that water is more abundant in the solar system than first thought.

Moon birth and methane weather are related.
"If Mimas has an ocean, it represents a new class of small,'stealth' ocean worlds with surfaces that don't betray the ocean's existence," study first author Alyssa Rhoden said in a statement.
The IWOWs, such as Jupiter'sEuropa and Enceladus, are not new to scientists, but inner tidal processes tend to break their surfaces and show other signs of geological activity. Rhoden said that Mimas looked at it like a frozen block of ice.

She said that the new understanding has greatly expanded the definition of a potentially habitable world in our solar system and beyond.
The researchers built a model to see if a hidden ocean could keep the water below the moon's exterior.
Rhoden said that most of the time when we create these models, we have to fine-tune them to produce what we observe. Evidence for an internal ocean popped out of the most realistic ice-shell stability scenarios.

Rhoden said that the findings made Mimas a "compelling target for further investigation". By studying the moon's ability to support an ocean, scientists could glean a better understanding of other potential hidden ocean moons tucked farther out in our solar system.

It was originally published on Live Science.