Pandora is a natural satellite orbiting Saturn. It is a small outer shepherd moon of Saturn’s narrow F ring and is one of several satellites named after figures from mythology.
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft photographed Pandora during its 1980 encounter with the Saturn system. The moon was discovered from images taken during that mission, making it part of the major wave of Saturnian satellite discoveries made by the Voyager spacecraft. Pandora is irregularly shaped and has a low density, characteristics common among many small outer moons.
Pandora’s best-known astronomical role is its relationship with Saturn’s F ring. Along with the nearby moon Prometheus, it helps influence and confine the ring’s narrow structure through gravitational interactions. Prometheus orbits inside the F ring, while Pandora orbits outside it.
This moon is unrelated to Pandora in the Greek myth except for its name. It is also unrelated to Pandora, the fictional moon in Avatar: the film’s Pandora is a moon of the gas giant Polyphemus in the Alpha Centauri system.