The standard astronomical designation of the main-belt asteroid Pandora, discovered in 1858, is 55 Pandora.
55 Pandora is a large asteroid orbiting in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. It was discovered by George Mary Searle at the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York, on September 10, 1858. The number 55 indicates its place in the sequence of numbered minor planets, while Pandora is its name.
The asteroid is not the same object as Pandora, one of Saturn’s moons. Astronomers use the numerical designation to distinguish the minor planet from other celestial bodies and from mythological or fictional references using the same name.
Pandora’s name comes from the Greek mythological figure. As with many asteroids discovered in the nineteenth century, mythological naming supplied a familiar cultural label for a newly catalogued object. Its orbit and physical properties are studied as part of minor-planet astronomy, not as evidence connected with the myth itself.