In the Saturn system, Pandora helps shepherd the F ring.
Pandora is a small outer satellite of Saturn that travels just outside the planet’s narrow, braided F ring. Its gravitational influence helps constrain and shape the ring, while the inner shepherd moon Prometheus exerts a complementary influence from the other side. Their interaction contributes to the F ring’s changing strands, channels, and clumps.
Voyager 1 images revealed Pandora in 1980, although the moon was initially identified in imagery from that spacecraft. The satellite is irregularly shaped and heavily cratered, with an average diameter of roughly 81 kilometres. It orbits Saturn at a distance of about 142,000 kilometres.
Pandora is sometimes confused with Prometheus because both moons are associated with the F ring and have names from Greek mythology. Pandora is the outer shepherd; Prometheus is the inner shepherd. Neither moon is one of Saturn’s large classical satellites such as Titan or Rhea.