The astronomical designation of the asteroid Pandora discovered in 1858 is 55 Pandora.
55 Pandora is a main-belt asteroid discovered by the American astronomer George Mary Searle on September 10, 1858. Its number, 55, reflects its position in the sequence of minor planets that had been discovered and numbered at the time. The name Pandora comes from the figure in Greek mythology.
The asteroid is not the same object as Pandora, Saturn’s moon. The moon was discovered more than a century later by Voyager 1, while 55 Pandora is a rocky body orbiting the Sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is also distinct from 55P/Tempel–Tuttle, a periodic comet whose designation begins with a number but belongs to a different naming system.
Astronomers use both a number and a name to distinguish many asteroids. “55 Pandora” is therefore more precise than simply saying “Pandora,” especially because the same mythological name has been applied to a moon, an asteroid, and works of art and literature.