Pan (moon)

Common card · No. 208370

Pan is the innermost named moon of Saturn. It is approximately 35 kilometres (22 mi) across and 23 km (14 mi) wide and orbits within the Encke Gap in Saturn's A Ring. Pan is a ring shepherd and is responsible for keeping the Encke Gap free of ring particles. It is sometimes described as having the appearance of a walnut, or ravioli. Pan was discovered by Mark R. Showalter in 1990 from analysis of old Voyager 2 probe photos and received the provisional designation S/1981 S 13 because the discovery images dated back to 1981.

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