Star Wars and Our Solar System

For many years I’ve known that Iapetus and Mimas (moons of Saturn) have resembled the Death Star. Today we saw images of Ultima Thule as New Horizons went speeding by at something like 8 miles per second.

Mimas resembles the first Death Star

Mimas resembles the first Death Star

Iapetus resembling the second Death Star

Iapetus resembles the second Death Star

Here’s an interesting article about why Iapetus might look the way it does by Phil Plait ‘The Bad Astronomer’.

And now Ultima Thule sure does resemble BB-8

BB-8 and Ultima Thule