Discover Pan, Saturn’s ravioli shaped moon
March 11, 2017
Is it a UFO? Is it a dumpling? Is it ravioli? No, it’s Saturn’s moon, Pan.
The raw unprocessed images of Saturn’s tiny moon were shared by NASA's Cassini on March 7 spacecraft during a flyby that brought the probe within 15,268 miles (24,572 kilometers) of the 22-mile-wide (35 km) Pan.
These are the closest images of Pan ever taken and will help scientists characterise its shape and geology.
Pan is just one of 60 known moons of Saturn with a unique appearance. For instance, Iapetus looks like a giant space walnut, Mimas resembles Death Star (from Star Wars).
Moreover, Saturn’s moons always continue to surprise others. For instance, Titan is the only solar system body besides Earth to harbour stable bodies of liquid on its surface. However, the moon’s lakes and seas comprise of hydrocarbons and not water.
Cassini, a joint effort of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, had arrived at Saturn in July 2004 to study the planet, its rings and its moons.
The project will come to an end on September 15. Next month, Cassini will enter the finale of its mission and in mid-Setember it will plunge intentionally into Saturn's atmosphere, in a death dive designed to ensure that the mission doesn't contaminate Titan or Enceladus.
