In astronomy, Pandora is a moon of Saturn that helps shepherd part of the planet’s ring system.
Pandora is a small outer shepherd satellite associated with Saturn’s narrow F ring. It works gravitationally with the moon Prometheus, which orbits on the other side of the ring. Their interactions help shape and confine the ring’s material, although the system is dynamically complex.
Voyager 1 images revealed Pandora in 1980, and the moon was later named after Pandora from Greek mythology. The name fits a broader astronomical tradition of assigning mythological names to satellites. Pandora is irregular in shape and heavily cratered, reflecting its small, airless nature.
Pandora is often confused with Saturn’s larger moon Pandora in fictional settings or with the similarly named asteroid 55 Pandora. Those are separate astronomical objects. The moon’s importance comes not from size—it is only a few dozen kilometres across—but from its gravitational relationship with Saturn’s F ring.