In James Cameron’s Avatar, Pandora is a moon orbiting which planet?

In James Cameron’s Avatar, Pandora is a moon orbiting the fictional planet Polyphemus.

Pandora is the main setting of Avatar, the 2009 science-fiction film. It is portrayed as a lush moon with extraordinary biodiversity, floating mountains, bioluminescent organisms, and a complex ecological network. Humans travel there to mine the valuable mineral unobtanium, bringing them into conflict with the Na’vi.

The name Pandora deliberately recalls the Greek myth, but Cameron’s moon is not a direct retelling of the story. Its name contributes to the film’s themes of discovery, danger, and the consequences of opening or exploiting a new world.

Polyphemus is a gas giant in the film’s fictional star system, orbiting Alpha Centauri A. Pandora is therefore not a planet in the Avatar setting, a detail sometimes lost when the moon is discussed casually as if it were a world comparable to Earth.