Pandora, discovered in 1980, is a moon in the Saturn system.
Pandora is a small outer shepherd satellite of Saturn’s narrow F ring. Voyager 1 images revealed it in October 1980, making the spacecraft’s close approach important to the moon’s identification and study. The satellite is irregularly shaped and heavily cratered.
Pandora helps constrain the behavior of Saturn’s F ring, together with the nearby moon Prometheus. Their gravitational interactions influence the ring’s strands and clumps, producing changing structures that are among the most complex features in the Saturn system.
The moon’s name comes from Greek mythology, as do many names used for Saturn’s satellites. It is not the same object as the asteroid 55 Pandora, and it should not be confused with fictional planets or locations that also use the name.