Saturn’s moon Pandora is best known as a shepherd moon of which ring?

Saturn’s moon Pandora is best known as a shepherd moon of the planet’s F ring. Its gravity helps influence the narrow, braided ring together with the nearby moon Prometheus, which orbits on the other side of the ring.

Pandora is an irregular, icy moon measuring roughly 81 kilometers across at its longest dimension. It travels around Saturn outside the F ring, while Prometheus orbits inside it. Their combined gravitational effects help confine and shape the ring’s material, although the system is dynamically complex and produces streamers and other changing structures.

The moon was discovered in photographs taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1980 and was initially designated S/1980 S 26. It received the name Pandora in 1985, taking its name from the figure in Greek mythology. Prometheus was also named from Greek myth, creating a paired mythological naming scheme.

Pandora should not be confused with asteroid 55 Pandora or the mythological container commonly called Pandora’s box. These are separate astronomical and cultural references sharing the same name.