The asteroid named after the mythological figure Pandora is designated 55 Pandora.
Astronomer George Mary Searle discovered the asteroid on September 10, 1858, from the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York. It became the 55th numbered minor planet after its orbit was established well enough for permanent numbering.
Pandora is a main-belt asteroid, meaning it orbits the Sun in the broad region between Mars and Jupiter. Its mythological name follows a long astronomical tradition of assigning classical names to minor planets.
The asteroid is not the same object as Pandora, one of Saturn’s moons. The asteroid’s designation begins with its number, while Saturn’s satellite is usually identified simply as Pandora or Saturn XVII in historical numbering systems.