In James Cameron’s film Avatar, Pandora is a moon of the fictional planet Polyphemus.
The 2009 science-fiction film is set in the Alpha Centauri star system, where humans travel to Pandora to mine unobtanium, a valuable mineral. Pandora is portrayed as a lush world with a rich ecosystem and a breathable atmosphere for its native Na’vi, though humans require breathing masks.
Polyphemus is a gas giant, and Pandora is one of its moons. This arrangement helps explain several visual features of the setting, including the enormous planet visible in Pandora’s sky. Pandora’s biological network, including the sacred Tree of Souls, is central to the film’s conflict between industrial exploitation and Na’vi culture.
Pandora is therefore not a planet in the film’s astronomical setting. It is a moon, while Polyphemus is the larger planetary body. The name also echoes the moon Pandora in our Solar System, but Cameron’s Pandora is a fictional world with a separate story and environment.