Pan

Pan — moon orbiting Saturn, shown live in Cosmoscope, a real-time 3D map of the universe.

The innermost shepherd moon, sweeping the Encke Gap clear as it goes. Ring dust piled onto its equator gives it its famous ravioli shape — the real Cassini model shown here.

Radius
14 km
Orbit
134k km from Saturn
Period
0.57 days
Lives in
The Encke Gap — it keeps it open
Shape
A ravioli with a skirt of ring material

Seeing Pan in real time

Cosmoscope puts Pan at its true position in the solar system, computed from JPL-derived ephemeris and updated continuously. Open the live 3D view to see, in real time, how far Pan is from the Sun and from Earth right now, how many minutes or hours light takes to cross that gap, and how fast it is moving along its orbit. Scrub the timeline to place Pan where it was on any past date, or where it will be years from now.

Interactive universe A living map of the solar system
Interactive universe
Waking the solar system…