Pandora, the small natural satellite discovered near Saturn in 1980, orbits Saturn. It is an inner moon of Saturn and acts as an outer shepherd satellite of the planet’s narrow F ring.
Pandora was discovered in photographs taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. Its irregular, bright surface and low density make it one of the small moons associated with Saturn’s ring system. The moon’s orbital relationship with Prometheus helps shape and confine the F ring.
The satellite was named after Pandora, the woman from Greek mythology. Its name is unrelated to the later commercial music service and to the fictional moon in Avatar, although all three uses draw on the same mythological name.
Pandora is only a few dozen kilometres across, making it far smaller than Saturn’s major moons such as Titan and Rhea. Its importance comes from its gravitational role around the F ring rather than from its size.