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

Orbit around Saturn

13.9 hours

0.58 Earth days

Science

Physical

Mass (estimated): 4.20 × 10¹⁵ kg · 0.0000000571 Moon masses
Radius: 14 km · 1% of our Moon's radius
Density: 365 kg/m³ · 0.36× water
Surface gravity: 0.00143 m/s² · 0% of Earth's
Escape velocity: 6.32 m/s · 0% of Earth's

Orbit around Saturn

Distance from Saturn: 135,749 km
Orbital period: 13.94 hours
Eccentricity: 0.005062
Inclination: 6.46 °

Radiation & temperature

Insolation: 0.0112 S⊕ · 1% of the sunlight Earth receives

Discovery & history

By: M.R. Showalter

Pan was discovered in 1990 by M.R. Showalter. Saturn's moons are named after giants and deities of world mythology — its distant irregular moons after Norse, Inuit and Gallic figures. Beyond its discovery and naming, little more about it has been individually recorded.

Images

Pan, the ravioli-shaped moon in the Encke gap, imaged by Cassini — NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute (public domain) · Wikimedia Commons

Pan Lengthening Shadow — NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute · NASA Image Library

Shadow of Saucer-Shaped Moon — NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute · NASA Image Library

The Gap Moons — NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute · NASA Image Library

Lengthening Shadows — NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute · NASA Image Library

Tracking Pan — NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute · NASA Image Library

Ring Moons Effects — NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute · NASA Image Library

Pan In the Middle — NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute · NASA Image Library

Images from open archives · credit shown per image