UFO in Saturn Update: Images Reveal Strange Shape Is Actually a Little Moon
The purported UFO or unidentified flying object spotted within the rings of Saturn was revealed to be a little moon, Pan. While it is no flying saucer, the moon certainly looks like one.
Images taken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Cassini spacecraft show the moon's odd shape, which is the primary reason it was for a moment thought to be a UFO.
Scientists are astounded by the Saturn's little moon's UFO-like appearance. Cassini scientist Carolyn Porco gushed about how the actual images were art.
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"I, too, thought when I [first saw these pics, they must be an artist's depiction [and] not real. They are real! Science is better than fiction," she tweeted out.
Pan's UFO shape is due to the little moon's prominent equatorial ridge. Atlas, another one of Saturn's moon, has the same feature that gives such distinct look.
Revealed as the innermost of Saturn's known moons, the "UFO moon" sits on the Encke Gap of the A-ring, which is the farthest loop from the planet.
It orbits Saturn every 13.8 hours and acts as a shepherd moon. Pan basically keeps the Encke Gap open by serving as a vacuum, clearing ring fragments from the gap as it passes through.
According to National Geographic, the lack of the ring debris is what led scientists to believe Saturn's UFO-shaped moon came to existence during the 1980s.
However, it was not until the 1990 that it was discovered by Mark Showalter and company, who examined the images taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft nine years prior.
"This is such a far cry from the nondescript 'dots' that I was tracking way back in 1990 in the Voyager images," Showalter said via National Geographic of the latest images of Saturn's UFO moon. "It's very gratifying finally to see Pan's close-up," he went on to say.
Pan was named after the Greek god of nature and forest of the same name. He was a satyr, who has male features, but has hind legs like that of a goat.
