Now witness the beauty of the 'Death Star' moon floating above Saturn's rings

One of Saturn's most photogenic moons gets its closeup in a new photo taken by the Cassini spacecraft.

The image, released by NASA this week, was taken by the spacecraft on Oct. 23, when it was about 114,000 miles away from Saturn's moon Mimas.

The small moon, which is known as Saturn's "Death Star" moon because of its distinctive crater (not visible in the above image), can be seen floating above the planet's rings.

Although Mimas looks like it's just inches above the ring plane in this photo, it's actually 28,000 miles from the rings, NASA said.

Even though the moon and the rings are separated by miles of empty space, the rings and Mimas actually influence one another quite a lot.

"There is a strong connection between the icy moon and Saturn's rings, though. Gravity links them together and shapes the way they both move," NASA said in a statement. "The gravitational pull of Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across) creates waves in Saturn's rings that are visible in some Cassini images."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Mimas isn't the only moon that influences Saturn's rings.

Enceladus spews material into one of the planet's rings, and earlier research suggests that at least part of the ring plane may have formed due to the breakup of another orbiting moon. Overall, Saturn has at least 53 known moons.

Cassini will get a new view of the rings in the coming months. The spacecraft will move into a new orbit that will take it on a dive between Saturn's body and its rings for the first time.

Cassini has been exploring Saturn and its system of rings and moons for more than 10 years, but its mission is coming to an end in 2017. In September, the spacecraft will make a planned death-plunge into Saturn's thick atmosphere, destroying the probe as it runs out of fuel.