Mohith Agadi
Saturn’s moon Pan looks much like its parent planet, with rings around it, but that is what it looks like from afar, and it is quite misleading. In reality the tiny moon has a bulge around the equator that could be mistaken for rings from a distance. This bulge is the result of an equatorial ridge and this is not unique to Pan. Atlas, one of Saturn’s other moons also has the same feature.
The ridge is a result of accumulation of stray particles and had formed over a long time. Pan orbits Saturn from very close quarters taking only 13.8 hours to complete one revolution. It is positioned within Saturn’s rings; which is why it is exposed to stray particles and debris.
Pan is only about 35 kilometer wide and was first discovered by NASA’s Voyager spacecraft in the 1980s. NASA has released some of the closest ever photos of this tiny little satellite which were taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft from a distance of 15,268 miles. Cassini has pictured the moon before but never from this close. Cassini is now on the last leg of its mission, and in September this year, it will be ending its journey by hurtling itself towards the planet itself.
Meanwhile the odd shaped little moon is reminding people around the world of many different kinds of food items. Some have compared it to a walnut, a burger, and ravioli among other things. It has even been compared to a UFO.
