Moon of Saturn
Pan
Pan is a moon. It orbits Saturn. It is about 28 km across – about as wide as Lake Zurich is long. Pan looks like a ravioli or a walnut: a ridge of ring material has built up around its equator.
Fact file
- Type
- Moon of Saturn
- Diameter
- 28 km
- Distance from Saturn
- 133,584 km
- Orbital period
- 0.6 days
- Temperature
- -195 °C on average
Pan orbits Saturn.
Interesting facts about Pan
- Pan looks like a ravioli or a walnut: a ridge of ring material has built up around its equator.
- It orbits in the middle of Saturn's A ring, and its gravity keeps a 325 km wide gap clear, the Encke Gap.
- At around 28 km, Pan is a little smaller than Lake Zurich is long.
Frequently asked questions about Pan
How big is Pan?
Pan has a diameter of 28 km. That is about 0.8% of the diameter of our Moon.
How far is Pan from Saturn?
Pan orbits Saturn at an average distance of 133,584 km.
How long does Pan take to orbit Saturn?
Pan orbits Saturn once every 13.8 hours.
How cold or warm is it on Pan?
On Pan the average temperature is −195 °C.
Formation
A small core on which ring particles have settled over a long time – but only at the equator, because the rings are wafer-thin.
Atmosphere
No atmosphere.
Exploration
Discovered in 1990 by Mark Showalter in old Voyager images. Cassini photographed Pan in 2017 from just 24,500 km away.
Compared with Earth
Pan is a “shepherd moon”: it keeps ring particles in check as a shepherd does his flock.
Other moons of Saturn
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