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May 2016- Thank you, MESSENGER
Report #15 - April 2016
Tiny, but Mighty
This rock-like figure is only 17 miles in diameter; a little fragment in space. Shaped like a saucer, it revolves around the second largest planet in our solar system: Saturn. Today, SC Messier introduces the innermost moon of Saturn, Pan. This moon might look to be a funny topic of discussion, but this pebble of a moon is not to be laughed at.
An artist's interpretation of Pan.
An Unphased Little One
Pan "has its eye on the prize," literally. 83,000 miles from Saturn, this moon orbits around the large planet, shoving aside ring particles as it goes with little effort. With its gravity, Pan puts a 200 mile "gap of privacy" between itself and the many other particles that revolve around Saturn. You can think of this gap, known as the "Encke Gap." as the red carpet in which the most famous celebrity, Pan, can only travel on. If you were to travel to Saturn one day, you would be able to see the Encke Gap in Saturn's A ring.
An Envious Little One
The Encke Gap (Pan's masterpiece).
Pan does more than just "nudge away" ring particles. How about bunch them up in clusters and whirl them out and about in Saturn's rings? Ring particles close to Saturn travel faster than Pan, and when they pass the small moon, Pan, using its gravity, pulls them together in bunches and sends them flying off, creating a wave effect amongst Saturn's rings. Ring particles that try to pass within Pan's gap get clustered with one another once they've been interrupted by Pan's gravity, and, if they don't get flung away, create thin lines within the Encke Gap.
Clusters of ring particles bunched up within the Encke Gap.
The Beauty of it All
While it may be an agressive scene of shoving and bunching, Pan truly makes a show for NASA's spacecraft, Cassini, to photograph. Below are images that illustrate the tiny moon making its way in its self-made gap and its mean affect on the neighboring ring particles.
The fine Encke Gap with tiny Pan right within it.
Fine streaks of bunched ring particles as a result of Pan's gravity.
Pan moving its way around Saturn all while pushing away ring particles.
SOURCES:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Images courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=11698
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/03/saturns-odd-baffling-moon-pan.html