What is the name of the small moon embedded in Saturn’s Encke Gap? Pan is the moon embedded in the gap. It orbits within Saturn’s A Ring and helps keep the Encke Gap clear of ring particles.
Pan is a ring-shepherd moon, meaning its gravity redirects nearby particles and maintains a sharp opening in the rings. The Encke Gap is about 322 kilometres wide, although it contains a narrow ringlet associated with Pan’s orbit. Pan’s influence also creates horseshoe-shaped paths for some dust particles.
The moon was discovered in 1990 by Mark Showalter while he was re-examining Voyager 2 images from 1981. Its existence had been predicted several years earlier from ripples and disturbances along the gap’s edges. Pan is often confused with Daphnis, another shepherd moon, but Daphnis occupies the Keeler Gap. Pan’s unusual walnut- or ravioli-like shape comes from an equatorial ridge built largely from ring material.