The main-belt asteroid named Pandora and discovered in 1858 has the catalog number 55 Pandora.
55 Pandora was discovered by George Mary Searle at the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York. Its name refers to Pandora of Greek mythology, continuing the long astronomical practice of giving minor planets names drawn from classical stories.
The asteroid is a member of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Its designation combines the number assigned in the sequence of asteroid discoveries with the name Pandora, so “55 Pandora” identifies the object unambiguously.
This asteroid is separate from Pandora, one of Saturn’s moons, and from fictional settings such as the Pandora in Avatar. The shared name is the reason catalog numbers and planetary context matter when discussing astronomical objects.