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Stunning Close-up of Saturn's Moon, Pan, Reveals a Space Empanada (sciencemag.org)

Posted by BeauHD on from the hot-and-ready dept.

sciencehabit quotes a report from Science Magazine: Astronomers have long known that Pan, one of Saturn's innermost moons, has an odd look. Based on images taken from a distance, researchers have said it looks like a walnut or a flying saucer. But now, NASA's Cassini probe has delivered stunning close-ups of the 35-kilometer-wide icy moon, and it might be better called a pan-fried dumpling or an empanada. Pan orbits Saturn in a gap in the planet's rings and pulls material from them, so the ridge around it likely started accumulating soon after the moon formed, researchers say. If material in the ridge is still loose, rather than somehow fused together, the ridge can maintain its steepness only because the moon's gravity is so low. The latest pictures were obtained as Cassini conducts its final (and riskiest) flybys past Saturn's moons and rings before it blazes into the planet's atmosphere later this year.

63 comments

  1. That's cultural appropriation, you RAAAACIST!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    You can't call something an empanada unless you're Hispanic!!!

    1. Re:That's cultural appropriation, you RAAAACIST!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      Even as AC strawmen go that's pathetic. I also dislike 'cultural appropriation' dickheads, but at least I don't have to exaggerate their bullshit to have a case.

    2. Re:That's cultural appropriation, you RAAAACIST!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Even as AC strawmen go that's pathetic. I also dislike 'cultural appropriation' dickheads, but at least I don't have to exaggerate their bullshit to have a case.

      If you've ever dealt with true SJWs, you'd know GP post is not an exaggeration at all.

      Funny how those same SJWs are fine with blacks playing whites in Hamilton though...

    3. Re:That's cultural appropriation, you RAAAACIST!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Funny how those same SJWs are fine with blacks playing whites in Hamilton though...

      Or with blacks wearing clothes instead of grass skirts, and with blacks using any technology more sophisticated than a spear. I mean if we're going to talk about cultural appropriation and all that.

    4. Re:That's cultural appropriation, you RAAAACIST!!! by rossdee · · Score: 1

      Hispanic is not a race

      Spanish (and Portugese) is a language.

      Although there is a Spanish race - its usualy held in Barcelona, this year its on May 14

    5. Re:That's cultural appropriation, you RAAAACIST!!! by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1

      You can't call something an empanada unless you're Hispanic!!!

      Ok.
      Houston, one of our pot stickers is missing...
      Oh. Never mind, we found it...

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    6. Re:That's cultural appropriation, you RAAAACIST!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can't call something an empanada unless you're Hispanic!!!

      I'm Hispanic and I don't care if you call it that or by any other name, as long as you bring hot sauce.

  2. Frist! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    More like ravioli. :-9

    1. Re: Frist! by Jesus+H+Rolle · · Score: 1

      No, it's plainly a pierogi.

    2. Re: Frist! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reminds me of that TNG episode, Galaxy's Child

      I recall seeing the alien 'Junior' and thinking "mmmm potstickers!"

    3. Re: Frist! by coastwalker · · Score: 1

      Surely it is a flying saucer? I think we should be told...

      --
      Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
    4. Re:Frist! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      obligatory "That's no moon..."

    5. Re: Frist! by whitroth · · Score: 1

      Obligatory: when we get closer, remember to transmit "Gort! Klaatu barata nikto!"

  3. Adorable by Carewolf · · Score: 4, Funny

    A little baby Saturn copying its mother (or is it big sister?)

  4. What the fuck is an empanade by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    What the fuck is an empanade. Does it rhyme with lemonade? Why can't you speak English?

    1. Re:What the fuck is an empanade by Maritz · · Score: 1

      There's a word, you don't know what it means, you're asking what it means, but you can't even transcribe the letters correctly. Talk about fail.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    2. Re:What the fuck is an empanade by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      What the fuck is an empanade.

      Some kind of cute bear that hugs you when you're down?

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    3. Re:What the fuck is an empanade by Jamu · · Score: 1

      Cornish Pasty is the English version. It's a Space Cornish Pasty.

      --
      Who ordered that?
    4. Re:What the fuck is an empanade by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Can I get a couple of Enceladus to go with that?

    5. Re:What the fuck is an empanade by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      There's a word, you don't know what it means, you're asking what it means, but you can't even transcribe the letters correctly. Talk about fail.

      I was going to tell AC it was kinda like a perogi. But that's not speaking American either.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    6. Re:What the fuck is an empanade by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

      Cornish Pasty is the English version. It's a Space Cornish Pasty.

      So strippers wear them on their nipples?

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    7. Re: What the fuck is an empanade by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That was corny.

    8. Re: What the fuck is an empanade by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      /me titters

  5. Interesting by ZeRu · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Looks like a Mexican's head. This is probably where Trump wants to send illegal aliens - so they can be just aliens.

    --
    If you post as an AC, don't expect me to spend a mod point on you.
    1. Re:Interesting by Maritz · · Score: 1

      Hilarious bud. Put that in your tight five. ;)

      Why would an AC be trying to keep track of mod points?

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    2. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Looks like a Mexican's head. This is probably where Trump wants to send illegal aliens - so they can be just aliens.

      Well they do seem to have a successful wall project...

  6. Render by davew666 · · Score: 1

    Why does this picture look like a very basic computer simulation of a lump of rock, and nothing at all like a photo. How was the picture actually taken?

    1. Re:Render by Rei · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's incredibly smooth and uncratered because it's constantly accumulating fine-grained ring material. Think of it like a sand dune in space.

      Also, people are generally used to images of the outer planets and their moons being poor quality (grainy, uneven lighting, often colorized poorly), but Cassini's imaging science subsystem is excellent. Really, everything about this spacecraft and mission has been superb, it's going to be such a shame to see it go. A very expensive mission, but worth every bit.

      --
      The big brain am winning again! I am the greetist! Now I am leaving for no particular raisin!
    2. Re:Render by davew666 · · Score: 1

      OK, but the detail still looks undefined - was it taken from a long way away, and this is a crop on the file?

    3. Re: Render by Jesus+H+Rolle · · Score: 5, Informative
      Saturn's 9.5 au from the sun, so gets 1/9.5^2 = ~1.1% the light we do. It's dark out there. This makes for low quality photos.

      Here is a better link with the originals and a link to katrillions of raw images.

    4. Re:Render by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is a snow ball. The rings are mostly water ice. Also, because of the distance, there are not all that many pixels in the picture.

    5. Re:Render by Rei · · Score: 4, Informative

      Everything in space is taken from "a long way away" relative to what we're used to in our everyday lives, as spacecraft move at speeds generally best measured in kilometers per second.

      Hmm, I think I see the problem. You're expecting images that look like when they take photos of much larger bodies - for example, this also recent image, of Mimas. But Mimas is about 400 kilometers in diameter, while Pan is 35x23km. Pan is also in Saturn's A-ring, which makes it a dangerous place to approach (although I assume this was captured during a pass through the Encke Gap?). Let's see... these were taken from ~25000km away... so yeah, that'd have to be within the Encke gap.

      --
      The big brain am winning again! I am the greetist! Now I am leaving for no particular raisin!
    6. Re:Render by MrKaos · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There are some other perspectives in this. It looks like a snowball that picked up the edge from bumping into the rings.

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    7. Re:Render by stealth_finger · · Score: 2

      Why does this picture look like a very basic computer simulation of a lump of rock, and nothing at all like a photo. How was the picture actually taken?

      "NASA's Cassini probe has delivered stunning close-ups of the 35-kilometer-wide icy moon...The latest pictures were obtained as Cassini conducts its final (and riskiest) flybys past Saturn's moons and rings before it blazes into the planet's atmosphere later this year."

      I would say RTFA but in this case it's exactly the same as TFS, so either will do.

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    8. Re:Render by ZeRu · · Score: 1

      It's incredibly smooth and uncratered because it's constantly accumulating fine-grained ring material. Think of it like a sand dune in space..

      So, whenever a meteor hits it, it makes the moon lose a good part of its mass because of all the dust that's being sent into space.

      --
      If you post as an AC, don't expect me to spend a mod point on you.
    9. Re:Render by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The moon is very, very young, like the rest of the ring system. If it were accumulating material it would be cratered.

    10. Re:Render by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It will be alternately gaining and losing mass as it collides with other objects, but gravity will tip the balance toward accumulation.

    11. Re:Render by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Also, people are generally used to images of the outer planets and their moons being poor quality

      No. I remember the Voyagers pictures quite well, taken 40 years ago...

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    12. Re:Render by messymerry · · Score: 1

      There's probably an asteroid buried in the middle of that thing...

      --
      Dear Microlimp: I give you 2 valid product keys for win7 and you reject both of them. Piss off you wankers!!!
    13. Re: Render by Baron_Yam · · Score: 1

      >Saturn's 9.5 au from the sun, so gets 1/9.5^2 = ~1.1% the light we do. It's dark out there.

      Which makes it equivalent to dawn or dusk on Earth with clear skies. Dim, but human eyes would still adjust and get the job done... and still plenty of light for a good imaging system (though adding in the incredible distances, the hazardous environment, and the ruggedness requirements just to survive the launch from Earth makes it impressive).

    14. Re:Render by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This body is the result of 2 small moons, probably coorbiting, gently merging and very low speed. It is obvious.

    15. Re:Render by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because the lighting is very simple. One infinite directional light source with a single channel CCD sensor and a single colour surface:

      Ice cream moon sculptures have more detail:

      http://www.foodiggity.com/ice-cream-moons-by-doshi-levien/

    16. Re: Render by Ocrad · · Score: 1

      Here is a better link with the originals and a link to katrillions of raw images.

      It is not a better link; it requires javascript to even see it.

    17. Re:Render by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      There's probably an alien space probe buried in the middle of that thing...

      FTFY

    18. Re: Render by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

      It is not a better link; it requires javascript to even see it.

      Today on "That Guy Is Still Around?", That Guy finds nasa.gov.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    19. Re: Render by Jesus+H+Rolle · · Score: 1
      It is not a better link; it requires javascript to even see it.

      So use javascript.

    20. Re:Render by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      Evidence of alien bakers.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
    21. Re:Render by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So make a better camera and send it to Saturn yourself you lazy dickwad. Oh and don't forget some sort of transmitter to get the result back, from 1.2 BILLON kilometers!
       
      /. is sure a shit fest these days.

  7. It's trump planet by Chrisq · · Score: -1, Troll

    It's trump planet. The Alien trump built a wall right round the edge, then sent the bill to the other side.

    1. Re:It's trump planet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Re Trump's planet, make our own conclusions from these Wikipedia excerpts about Pan:

      "God of nature, the wild, shepherds, flocks, goats, of mountain wilds, and is often associated with sexuality ...
      Pan is famous for his sexual powers, and is often depicted with a phallus. Diogenes of Sinope, speaking in jest, related a myth of Pan learning masturbation from his father, Hermes, and teaching the habit to shepherds. ...
      Pan's greatest conquest was that of the moon goddess Selene. He accomplished this by wrapping himself in a sheepskin[25] to hide his hairy black goat form, and drew her down from the sky into the forest where he seduced her. ....
      Pan's goatish image recalls[citation needed] conventional faun-like depictions of Satan."

  8. That's no moon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OK, that's no moon. For reals. That looks like it is the space dwelling entity from the Star Trek Next Generation episode Galaxy's Child.

  9. Can we please speak English by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    ...not Mexican. Thank you.

    1. Re:Can we please speak English by silentcoder · · Score: 0

      No. And fuck you.

      PS. There is no language called "Mexican".

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    2. Re:Can we please speak English by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know, right? It's like they expect you to understand Latin and Greek just to talk about the friggin' solar system...

    3. Re:Can we please speak English by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure there is ... it's what they speak south of the wall. Unlike North of the wall where they speak American

    4. Re:Can we please speak English by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's hope it stays that way.

  10. NASA has recalled Astronaut to active duty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Homer Jay Simpson reporting for duty sir; I just received the report"

  11. Metric Miles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    I really don't think it matters. Either way, for those of us that don't act like a fucking bunch of crybabies about the metric system, that converts to 22 miles wide.

  12. Frozen Flying Saucer by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1

    It looks like a flying saucer that iced over.

  13. Anal by davew666 · · Score: 1

    Sorry to be pedantic, but doesn't it look much more like a ravioli than an empanada or a gyoza?

    1. Re:Anal by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      Sorry to be pedantic, but doesn't it look much more like a ravioli than an empanada or a gyoza?

      In any case, it's ethnic food and, whenever the Earth and Pan are properly aligned, it's a foreign thingy over US airspace w/o proper clearance. It's gotta go. :-)

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  14. I, for one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...welcome our space empanada overlords.

  15. The veggies are coming! by AppleHoshi · · Score: 1

    Man, those space cabbages get big!