The asteroid named Pandora is 55 Pandora in the official asteroid numbering system.
55 Pandora is a large main-belt asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. It was discovered by George Mary Searle at the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York, in 1858 and later named after Pandora from Greek mythology.
Asteroid numbers record the order in which objects received secure discovery status, not their size or distance from the Sun. Thus, 55 Pandora does not mean Pandora is the fifty-fifth-largest asteroid. Its designation is a permanent catalog identity used alongside the mythological name.
The asteroid should not be confused with Pandora, Saturn’s moon, or with the fictional world and company names used in modern entertainment. Astronomical naming often reuses mythological figures across different classes of objects, so the number is essential for precise identification.