In Avatar, what is the name of the moon that humans call Pandora?

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In Avatar, Polyphemus is the name of the moon that humans call Pandora.

James Cameron’s Avatar is set on Pandora, a habitable moon orbiting the fictional gas giant Polyphemus in the Alpha Centauri system. The moon is home to the Na’vi and contains the valuable mineral unobtanium, which drives the human mining operation depicted in the film.

Pandora’s environment includes dense forests, large native animals, and unusual biological connections among living organisms. The film’s setting was designed as an alien ecosystem rather than as a literal version of the Greek myth. Its name nevertheless evokes the mythological Pandora and the idea of opening something whose consequences cannot easily be controlled.

Polyphemus is also the name of a Cyclops in Greek mythology, especially the figure encountered by Odysseus in the Odyssey. In Avatar, however, Polyphemus is an astronomical body: a fictional gas giant, not a character or a real confirmed planet.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Oct. 2026

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