Voyager image of Pan within Saturn's Encke Gap.

PAN - MOON OF SATURN

Pan was the Greek god of shepherds and sheep. He was a Satyr, one of a number of woodland gods which had horses' ears and a tail. The Roman version of Pan had a hairy body, wrinkled face, goats horns, and carried a reed pipe. He was the son of Hermes and Penelope. Pan was discovered by M. Showalter in 1990 using Voyager images.

Orbit

Pan is Saturn's innermost satellite. Pan orbits 133,583 kilometres from the centre of Saturn, just 62,091 kilometres above the cloud tops. Pan has a circular orbit which lies in Saturn's equatorial plane, and completes an orbit in under 14 hours. Pan is located within Saturn's A-ring Encke Gap. It appears to be a shepherd moon, maintaining the Encke gap, keeping it clear of small particles. Pan was discovered in a review of Voyager images when patterns in the A-ring were found which hinted at the presence of a small moon.

The orbits of Pan, Atlas, and Prometheus.

Physical properties

Pan, with a diameter of just 20 kilometres, is Saturn's smallest satellite. Pan's mass and density are unknown.

Interior

There is no information concerning Pan's interior.

Magnetic field

No magnetic field has been detected.

Atmosphere

No atmosphere has been detected.

Surface

In the best images Pan is a small fuzzy blob. It is a moderately reflective object with an albedo of 0.5.