In the 1858 astronomy record, who discovered the asteroid 55 Pandora?

George Mary Searle discovered asteroid 55 Pandora in 1858.

Searle found 55 Pandora on September 10, 1858, at the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York. The asteroid was later assigned the name Pandora, linking it to the mythological figure whose story was recorded by Hesiod. It is a main-belt asteroid, meaning it orbits the Sun in the broad region between Mars and Jupiter.

Asteroid 55 Pandora is distinct from Pandora, a moon of Saturn. The asteroid and moon share a mythological name, but they were discovered in different settings and belong to different classes of objects. The asteroid’s designation, 55, reflects its place in the sequence of numbered minor planets.

Searle is sometimes confused with famous earlier astronomers such as William Herschel or Heinrich Olbers. Neither discovered 55 Pandora; the credited discoverer is Searle.