![]() ![]() 15, Cassini will plunge into the planet's thick atmosphere in a death dive designed to ensure that the spacecraft doesn't contaminate Enceladus or Titan (both of which may be capable of supporting life) with microbes from Earth.įollow Mike Wall on Twitter and Google+. Later this month, the probe, which is low on fuel, will begin the "grand finale" phase of its mission - a series of 22 orbits that will take it between Saturn's cloud tops and the edge of the innermost ring. (Huygens was a piggyback lander that touched down on the surface of the huge Saturn moon Titan in January 2005.)īut the Cassini orbiter's work is nearly done. The $3.2 billion Cassini-Huygens mission - a joint effort of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency - launched in October 1997 and arrived at Saturn in July 2004. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute) Even the basic mass and size data are not very accurate.Saturn's moon Atlas hangs in the void in this image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on April 12, 2017. We know next to nothing about these moons.What role do these moons play with respect to the rings?.Terrile in 1980 from Voyager photos.Ītlas seems to be a shepherd satellite of the A ring. 1990 NASA press release about the discovery of PanĪtlas is the second of Saturn’s known satellites: orbit: 137,670 km from SaturnĪtlas was a Titan condemned by Zeus to support the heavens upon his shoulders son of Iapetus and the nymph Clymene brother of Prometheus and Epimetheus.ĭiscovered by R.It is possible that there are more moons within Saturn’s rings yet to be discovered. Pan was discovered by reexamining the 10 year old Voyager photos at the predicted spot. Prior to the discovery of Pan, an analysis of the patterns in the edge of Saturn’s A ring predicted the size and location of a small moon. Small moons near the rings produce wave patterns in the rings. The feature database is searchable and can move the globe to a searched feature. You can switch to a Globe mode that allows you to spin the Moon around to see far side features. Facts about Saturn in graphic design check out for more interesting facts and. Pan is within the Encke Division in Saturn’s A ring. To get the Saturn V into orbit and carry humanity to the surface of the moon, the five engines of the first two stages of the rocket used liquid hydrogen fuel to blast off with 34.5 million. Moon Atlas displays the phase and libration of the Moon from your chosen location and renders these on the globe. Atlas - a Saturn Moon Astronomy Facts, Astronomy Pictures, Space And. How Pan Got Its Name Moons of Saturn were originally named for Greco-Roman Titans and descendants of the Titans. December 2016 and April 2017 during the ring-grazing orbits. Showalter in 1990 from Voyager photos taken in 1981 reconfirmed by images from Cassini in 2005. Pan, like Saturn's moon Atlas, has a prominent equatorial ridge that gives it a distinctive flying saucer shape. Five close flybys of the moons Pan, Daphnis, Atlas, Pandora, and Epimetheus were performed between. Pan was the god of woods, fields, and flocks, having a human torso and head with a goat’s legs, horns, and ears.ĭiscovered by Mark R. Pan is the innermost of Saturn’s known satellites: orbit: 133,583 km from Saturn ![]()
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