Zoom In
Saturn’s moons Atlas (left) and Pan (right), both of which have large flattened rims around them, making them look like ravioli. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
That image shows the small (~35 kilometer wide) moons Atlas and Pan. I mean,
come on. Just looking at them makes me hungry.
What could cause them to have these wide rims?
The first thought had to do with location. Both moons orbit Saturn in or very near the ring system. The broad outer ring of Saturn is called the A ring, and it has a gap in it called the Encke Gap, which is about 325 km wide. Pan orbits inside this gap, and Atlas just outside the sharp outer edge of the A ring. If the gravity of the moons could attract the icy ring particles to them, they could accumulate along the moons equators, and in the moons weak gravity form these bizarre structures.