Pandora is asteroid 55 Pandora, discovered by American astronomer George Mary Searle in 1858. It is a main-belt asteroid, the 55th numbered minor planet in the standard naming sequence.
Searle discovered Pandora on September 10, 1858, at the Albany Observatory in New York. The asteroid was named after Pandora from Greek mythology, linking a nineteenth-century astronomical discovery with the ancient story of the first woman and her jar.
The number 55 does not indicate Pandora’s size, age, or position in the asteroid belt. It records the order in which the object received a confirmed minor-planet designation. Asteroid names can be mythological, historical, or commemorative, so the name alone does not describe the object’s physical nature.
55 Pandora is classified as an S-type asteroid, meaning its surface is broadly stony and relatively reflective compared with darker carbon-rich asteroids. It orbits the Sun in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, alongside thousands of other minor planets.