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Cassini Reveals Strange Shape of Saturn’s Moon Pan

Black and white image of a ravioli shaped moon.
This raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Pan was taken on March 7, 2017 by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Pan - cropped
This raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Pan was taken on March 7, 2017 by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

These raw, unprocessed images of Saturn's tiny moon, Pan, were taken on March 7, 2017, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The flyby had a close-approach distance of 24,572 kilometers (15,268 miles).

Pan and Saturn's rings
This raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Pan was taken on March 7, 2017 by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

These images are the closest images ever taken of Pan and will help to characterize its shape and geology.

Pan
This raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Pan was taken on March 7, 2017 by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Additional raw images from Cassini are available at:

Animated Pan
An animated GIF of Cassini's views of Pan in March 2017.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/K. Walbolt/S. Samochina

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Cassini imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Caltech in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about Cassini, visit:

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News Media Contact

Preston Dyches
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-7013
preston.dyches@jpl.nasa.gov