Pandora is a small moon orbiting Saturn.
Saturn’s Pandora was discovered in photographs taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1980. It is an irregularly shaped satellite about 81 kilometers across and travels near Saturn’s narrow F ring. Its gravity helps influence the ring’s structure, although Pandora is not the only moon involved: Prometheus also interacts with the F ring and is often described as a shepherd satellite.
Pandora’s name comes from the figure in Greek mythology. The astronomical name is not evidence that the moon has any physical connection to the myth; planetary satellites are frequently named after characters from mythology and literature. Pandora’s orbit lies outside the orbit of Prometheus, and the two moons participate in a complex gravitational relationship with the ring.
The moon is sometimes confused with the asteroid 55 Pandora, which is a separate object orbiting the Sun. The shared name reflects naming tradition, not a shared location or composition. Saturn’s Pandora remains a particularly notable example of a small moon associated with ring dynamics.