What is the name of the asteroid numbered 55 that was named after Pandora?

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The asteroid numbered 55 that was named after Pandora is 55 Pandora.

55 Pandora is a large main-belt asteroid discovered by George Mary Searle on September 10, 1858, at the Albany Observatory in New York. It received the name Pandora from Greek mythology, continuing the nineteenth-century practice of naming many asteroids after mythological figures.

The object orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. It is an S-type asteroid, meaning its surface composition is broadly associated with stony silicate material. Its designation combines its permanent number, 55, with its name; “Pandora” alone can therefore refer either to the mythological character or the astronomical body.

This asteroid is not Saturn’s moon Pandora. The moon was discovered much later in images from Voyager 1 and has its own separate designation and orbital location. Numbering and the word “asteroid” distinguish 55 Pandora from that planetary satellite.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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