55 Pandora is the asteroid named after the Greek mythological figure Pandora and discovered by George Mary Searle in 1858. It is a main-belt asteroid orbiting the Sun between the paths of Mars and Jupiter.
Searle discovered 55 Pandora on September 10, 1858, from the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York. The asteroid was later assigned the number 55 and given the mythological name Pandora, continuing the nineteenth-century practice of naming many asteroids after figures from classical mythology.
The name can cause confusion with Pandora, a moon of Saturn discovered much later. Asteroid 55 Pandora and Saturn’s moon Pandora are separate Solar System objects, although both use the same mythological name.
55 Pandora is classified as an S-type asteroid, meaning its surface is broadly stony and rich in silicate minerals. Its astronomical designation combines the catalogue number 55 with the name Pandora.