# @nasa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BKjzNgIgwBy
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/11736486-nasa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/87e0b9f1ba.jpg
- **Posted:** 2016-09-20T01:31:06.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA (@NASA) — https://gondola.cc/NASA

## Caption

Where the Small Moon Rules: Pan may be small as satellites go, but like many of Saturn's ring moons, it has a has a very visible effect on the rings.

Pan (17 miles or 28 kilometers across, left of center) holds open the Encke gap and shapes the ever-changing ringlets within the gap (some of which can be seen here). In addition to raising waves in the A and B rings, other moons help shape the F ring, the outer edge of the A ring and open the Keeler gap.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 2, 2016. Pan has been brightened by a factor of two to enhance its visibility. 
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
#cassini #saturn #pan #cassinisaturn #moon #rings #nasa #space

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## Tags

pan, nasa, space, moon, cassini, cassinisaturn, saturn, rings

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