Pandora’s official Roman-numeral designation is Saturn XVII.
Pandora is a small inner moon of Saturn and acts as an outer shepherd of the planet’s narrow F ring. Its gravitational influence helps confine and shape ring material, alongside the nearby moon Prometheus. The names deliberately echo the mythological figures associated with Pandora’s box and Prometheus’s theft of fire.
The moon was discovered in photographs taken by Voyager 1 in 1980 and was initially designated S/1980 S 26. It received the name Pandora in 1985. The Roman numeral XVII reflects its position in the traditional sequence of recognized Saturnian moons, not its size or distance from the planet.
Pandora is irregularly shaped and only a few dozen kilometres across. It should not be confused with the fictional world named Pandora in Avatar or with the ancient mythological character.