Saturns Moon Pan from Cassini
Explanation:
Why does Saturn's moon Pan look so odd?
Images
taken last week from the
robotic Cassini spacecraft orbiting
Saturn
have resolved the moon in unprecedented detail.
The surprising images reveal a moon that looks something like a
walnut
with a
slab through its middle.
Other
visible
features on Pan include
rolling terrain,
long ridges, and a few craters.
Spanning 30-kilometer across,
Pan
orbits inside the 300-kilometer wide
Encke Gap of Saturn's expansive
A-ring, a gap known since the late 1800s.
Next month, Cassini will be directed to pass near Saturn's massive moon
Titan so it can be pulled
into a
final series of orbits that will take it,
on occasion, completely inside Saturn's rings and prepare it
to dive into Saturn's
atmosphere.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
