Friday, January 25, 2008

Pan

Pan
Earlier this month, I mistakenly said Atlas was the closest moon to Saturn, but that's wrong, as I certainly knew. Atlas is outside the A Ring, but Pan, inside the Encke Gap, is closest in, and Daphnis, in the Keeler Gap (which, like the Encke Gap, is inside the A Ring), is next in. The magnificent shot, across the planet to the far side, shows Pan in the clearly defined Encke Gap. The Keeler is that darkish band next out. The Roche Division, where Atlas lives, is the broad black gap with the narrow little F Ring at the edges. (For a better idea of the scale (the Encke Gap is 200 miles wide), look at this picture showing Pan and Daphnis both.

See the Cassini site for details.

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1 Comments:

At 10:50 AM, January 26, 2008 Anonymous Anonymous had this to say...

These photos are outstanding.

 

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