Last Updated: September 27, 2023, 12:46 IST
The images were taken by the Cassini spacecraft.
The space agency has asked social media users to tell what they think has been shown in the image.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) amazes space enthusiasts with activities like astronauts landing on the moon and launching of powerful space telescopes. Now, in a recent post, the American space agency has shared a photograph on Instagram. The celestial body in the picture shares an uncanny resemblance with dumplings. The space agency has asked social media users to tell what they think has been shown in the image. NASA wrote in the description, “Ravioli, pierogi, empanada … What do you see? No wrong answers. Pan, the innermost of Saturn’s known moons, orbits the planet from inside a gap in one of Saturn’s rings. It completes an orbit every 13.8 hours at an altitude of 83,000 miles (134,000 km). These two images from the Cassini spacecraft show how the spacecraft’s perspective changed as it passed within 15,300 miles (24,600 km) of Pan.” According to NASA, this was the spacecraft’s closest encounter with Pan, and it improved the level of detail seen on the little moon from earlier observations.
The agency further stated that the ridge around Pan’s equator is similar to Saturn’s moon Atlas, and gives the moon its distinctive dumpling shape. Pan was discovered by MR Showalter in 1990 using images taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, nine years earlier. The agency then gave a brief description of the images as well. The description tells that they are two black-and-white images of Saturn’s moon, Pan. These images are taken from different perspectives. The picture on the left appears to be taken from above the moon. The image on the right seems to be taken from below it. The moon has a flat ridge around its midpoint, and lines that look like they were scraped across its surface.
One of the social media users wrote that 13 hours of orbit is too fast. Another user commented, “Cassini brought us some amazing gifts from around our universe-miss, you so much little dude.”
Cassini survived for a total of 91 seconds in Saturn’s dense atmosphere, before tipping over backward during its last eight seconds, and finally losing radio contact with Earth. The mission was completed, as the probe succumbed to the increasing heat and pressure.
