Atlas, Daphnis, and Pan | APOD Image Credit: Cassini…

Atlas, Daphnis, and Pan | APOD Image Credit: Cassini…

Atlas, Daphnis, and Pan



| APOD
Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA,

NASA

Atlas,

Daphnis, and

Pan

are small, inner, ring moons of Saturn,

shown at the same scale in

this

montage of images from the still

Saturn-orbiting

Cassini spacecraft. In fact, Daphnis was discovered in Cassini images from 2005. Atlas and Pan were first sighted in images from the

Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. Flying saucer-shaped Atlas orbits near the outer edge of Saturn’s

bright A Ring while Daphnis orbits

inside the A Ring’s

narrow Keeler Gap

and Pan within

the A Ring’s larger Encke Gap. The curious

equatorial ridges of the small ring moons

could be built up by the

accumulation of ring material over time. Even diminutive

Daphnis makes waves in the

ring material as it glides along the edge of the Keeler Gap.