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Pan (moon)

**Pan**
Discovery
Discovered by	Mark R. Showalter
Discovered in	1990
Orbital characteristics
Semimajor axis	133,583 km
Eccentricity	0
Orbital period	13h 48m
Inclination	0°
Is a satellite of	Saturn
Physical characteristics
Mean radius	10 km
Mass	2.7×10¹⁵ kg
Mean density	0.6 g/cm³
Surface gravity	0.002m/s²
>Rotation period	unknown
Axial tilt	0°
Albedo	0.5
Atmosphere	none

Pan is a moon of Saturn, named after the god Pan. It was discovered by Mark R. Showalter in 1990 from analysis of old Voyager probe photos. Pan is within the Encke Division in Saturn's A ring; it acts as a shepherd and is responsible for keeping the Encke gap open. Its gravity produces wave patterns in the rings that indicated Pan's presence and led to the reexamination of Voyager photographs of its predicted location. Other undiscovered moons may exist within Saturn's rings.

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Pan (moon)".