In Avatar, Pandora orbits which fictional gas giant?
Answer
Polyphemus
In Avatar, Pandora orbits the fictional gas giant Polyphemus. The moon and its parent planet are located in the Alpha Centauri star system, which is also the nearest stellar system to the Sun in the real universe.
Pandora is not presented as a planet in the film’s setting. It is a habitable moon with a dense atmosphere, spectacular landscapes, and a complex biosphere. The gas giant Polyphemus appears in the sky and establishes the astronomical scale of the world created for James Cameron’s film.
The name Polyphemus comes from Greek mythology, where Polyphemus is a Cyclops encountered by Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey. Avatar combines many mythic and scientific ideas in its fictional setting, but Polyphemus and Pandora are invented astronomical bodies rather than real objects known to orbit Alpha Centauri.