Oct 17, 2014 10:58 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Bearing a strong resemblance to the Death Star, one of Saturn's moons is showing signs of either a strangely shaped core or a massive subsurface ocean.

According to BBC News, authors of a study published in the journal Science used data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The international team of scientists also referred the moon as the Death Star because of a crater that resembles the fictional Star Wars space station's planet-destroying laser beam.

Saturn's moon officially known as Mimas has a particular wobble to it, meaning it either has an oblong rocky core or is rich with life-encouraging water. Cassini has been investigating Saturn since 1997, a planet with distinct rings and at least 62 moons, 53 of which have been named.

"After carefully examining Mimas, we found it librates - that is, it subtly wobbles - around the moon's polar axis," study lead author Radwan Tajeddine, research associate in astronomy at Cornell University, said in a press release. "In physical terms, the back-and-forth wobble should produce about 3 kilometers of surface displacement. Instead we observed an unexpected 6 kilometers of surface displacement.

"We're very excited about this measurement because it may indicate much about the satellite's insides. Nature is essentially allowing us to do the same thing that a child does when she shakes a wrapped gift in hopes of figuring out what's hidden inside."

NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency collaborates on the Cassini mission and this study was an international effort with scientists from France, Belgium and the U.S. The study authors believe that, if there is an ocean beneath Mimas' surface, it is probably 15 to 20 miles down.

"Observing libration can provide useful insights about what is going on inside a body," Tajeddine said in a statement from NASA. "In this case, it is telling us that this cratered little moon may be more complex than we thought."

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