In 1990, SETI researchers first spotted Pan, one of Saturn’s 62 officially recognized moons, tucked away among the planet’s rings, but it would be another 27 years before they could see it up close.
On March 7, one of NASA’s spacecraft, Cassini sent researchers at the Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory of Operations (CICLOPS) in Boulder, Colorado images of the 21-mile-wide (24 km) moon from the closest point it will ever reach—20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) away. These pictures reveal that Pan is not spherical, but rather has more of a flying-saucer shape. Mark Showalter, a researcher at the SETI Institute whose team first saw Pan years ago, told National Geographic that it looks like that because the tiny moon’s gravity is so weak, it could only accumulate tiny particles from Saturn’s rings around its middle.
Here is a list of all the colorful ways the oddly-shaped moon has been described since Cassini provided these new images:
- a flying saucer
- a walnut
- a ravioli
- a pirogi
- an empanada
- half an avocado
- a hamburger (with an ill-fitting bun)
- half an avocado
- a hand grenade
- fresh naan
- Gilligan’s hat
- a space wart or pimple
- a dirty diaper
- another one of Saturn’s moons, Atlas
And a few of my own:
- a half-baked cookie in the oven
- a fried egg
- a macaroon
- the Staple’s Easy button
A lot of folks found Pan to be similar to food. Perhaps we’re all just hungry.