Pan
Moon· orbits Saturn
Pan is a moon orbiting Saturn.
Open in 3D viewSee Pan in the live, interactive 3D map
Key facts
Mass (est.)
4.20 × 10¹⁵ kg
0.0000000571 Moon masses
Radius
14 km
1% of our Moon's radius
Surface gravity
0.00143 m/s²
0% of Earth's gravity
Orbit around Saturn
13.8 hours
0.58 Earth days
Science
Physical
- Mass (estimated)
- 4.20 × 10¹⁵ kg · 0.0000000571 Moon masses
- Dynamically estimated (JPL ephemeris fit) but poorly constrained (GM uncertain to ~50%). Source: JPL SSD Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters (GM SAT415).
- Radius
- 14 km · 1% of our Moon's radius
- JPL SSD Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters (mean radius)
- Density
- 365 kg/m³ · 0.36× water
- Estimated from the estimated mass and radius
- Surface gravity
- 0.00143 m/s² · 0% of Earth's gravity
- Estimated from the estimated mass and radius
- Escape velocity
- 6.32 m/s · 0% of Earth's escape velocity
- Estimated from the estimated mass and radius
Orbit around Saturn
- Distance from Saturn
- 133,600 km
- From JPL orbital elements
- Orbital period
- 13.80 hours
- From JPL orbital elements
- Eccentricity
- 0
- From JPL orbital elements
- Inclination to Saturn's Laplace plane
- 0.00 °
- From JPL orbital elements · The Laplace plane is the one a moon's orbit precesses about: close in it is the planet's equatorial plane, the plane of the rings, and further out it tilts toward the planet's own orbit.
Radiation & temperature
- Insolation
- 0.0112 S⊕ · 1% of the sunlight Earth receives
- Computed from the distance to the Sun (inverse-square; Earth's sunlight = 1), before any atmosphere.
Discovery & history
- By
- M.R. Showalter
Pan was discovered in 1990 by M.R. Showalter. Saturn's moons are named after the Titans, giants and monsters of Greek and Roman myth. Beyond its discovery and naming, little more about it has been individually recorded.
Images
Images from open archives · credit shown per image