What Is #40: Atlas?

Today marks the 40th post in this 'What Is' series and today I have another moon for you. There are so many cool moons in the Solar System that it would be a travesty to leave out one of them! Today's cool moon is Atlas.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute / Public domain

Take a look at that moon! It's stereotypical UFO-shaped with a bulge in the middle and a thinner disk on the edges. Now that's cool! This moon is not spherical because it is not large enough for gravitational forces to shape it into a sphere over time. This moon was discovered in 1980 by the Voyager spacecraft and is less than 10 miles in radius. We certainly wouldn't want this thing smashing into Earth, but at less than 10 miles in radius, it is a small moon. If it were to crash into Earth, however, that would be a certain extinction-level event. But no worries, this moon orbits around Saturn so there is no possibility of it ever striking Earth.

But it sure is cool looking! No aliens though. Trust me, there are no aliens living on this moon. Don't even ask the questions! :-)