Pan Almighty
Saturn’s innermost moon, Pan, appears to be just a tiny dot circling a much bigger world. But the 17-mile-wide object shaped like a flying saucer has an outsized effect on Saturn’s rings. Ring particles are swept aside by the moon’s gravity, resulting in a 200-mile-wide break in the rings known as the Encke Gap. The moon also leaves a mark on the rings themselves. Ring particles closer to Saturn orbit faster than Pan. As they pass the moon, Pan gives them a gravitational boost that bunches up the particles and sets off cascading ripples through the rings. Explore the images for views of Pan and Saturn’s rings taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.
Saturn's innermost moon maintains a sharp gap in the planet's rings.
Pan orbits Saturn within the Encke Gap, a break in Saturn’s A ring located about 83,000 miles from the planet.
As Pan travels through the gap, its gravity pushes aside ring particles and creates a wake in the surrounding rings.
The undulating appearance of ring particles seen in this close-up of the Encke Gap is the result of Pan's gravitational influence.
Pan’s gravity also disrupts the motion of ring particles passing within the gap, producing trails of clustered particles.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Images courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
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Writer
- Lisa Marie Potter (USRA)
Release date
This page was originally published on Thursday, January 8, 2015.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:50 PM EDT.