There are some curious moons in the Solar System , such asIapetuswith its two - toned airfoil , orHyperionwith its leech - like coming into court .
But Saturn ’s moon Pan looks like it ’s about to jump up the weird musical scale , asnew imagesfrom the Cassini spacecraft disclose its bizarre figure . We ’ve actually known it had this physical body for quite a few year , but these latest snaps show just how weird it is .
Images from the spacecraft show the moon , which is about 34 km ( 21 nautical mile ) astray , has a large equatorial bulge . This might be built up from material in Saturn ’s rings , with Pan orbiting in a gap within them known as the Encke Gap . The images were hire from 24,572 kilometers ( 15,268 mile ) away and are the closest images ever of Pan .
The freakish shape of Pan has drawn similarities to cappelletti or even a flying dish aerial . The ridgepole is several km high , with an oddly smooth open compared to the rest of the moon .
NASA / JPL - Caltech / Space Science Institute
It ’s positioning within Saturn ’s A ring make Pan a shepherd moonshine , as it clears junk away from the crack by either pulling it onto its surface or pushing it away .
Back in 2007 , Cassini imaging conduct Carolyn Porco and colleaguesfirsthypothesizedhow Pan might get its ridge . They came up with the idea that it was taking in particles from the ring on both sides of its eye socket , which impact the moon and stay there , collect over prison term .
“ As a consequence of Pan ’s ( almost ) round arena , closed chain particles reach Pan ’s surface with crushed relative velocity , ” Porco et al noted in a newspaper publisher published in the journalSciencein 2007 .
Sadly , we wo n’t be getting new images like this from Saturn for too much longer . The Cassini mission is come to an end , with the spacecraft due to enter Saturn ’s atmosphere on September 15 , where it will be destroyed , having entered orbit in 2004 .
This is because it ’s running out of fuel , and scientists do n’t require it to accidentally crash on and contaminate one of Saturn ’s potentially habitable moons , Titan or Enceladus .
At the moment , Cassini is execute somering - grazing orbits , which are claim it around the outer edge of Saturn ’s rings . In April , it will move into its Grand Finale phase , skimming between the planet ’s clouds and the inner hoop .
That phase of the missionary work should be rather glorious , giving us some of our closest views of Saturn and its ringing yet . It should be a meet end to what has been an incredible mission .
