Pan
Pan information
Average distance
from
Saturn
:
133583 km (0.0009
AU
)
Equatorial radius
:
10 km (
Diameter
: 20 km)
Siderial orbit period (length of year)
:
0.5750 earth days
Pan, Saturn XVIII
Pan
Pan was the god of woods, fields, and flocks, having a human torso and head with a goat's legs, horns, and ears.
Discovered by Mark R. Showalter in 1990 from Voyager photos. Recovered 24 years later in Cassini images.
Pan is within the Encke Division in Saturn's A ring.
Small moons near the rings produce wave patterns in the rings. Prior to the discovery of Pan, an analysis of the patterns in the edge of Saturn's A ring predicted the size and location of a small moon. Pan was discovered by reexamining the 10 year old Voyager photos at the predicted spot.
It is possible that there are more moons within Saturn's rings yet to be discovered.
More
Discovered by Mark R. Showalter (Voyager 2) in 1990
Find more information on Pan