Saturn’s moon Pandora was provisionally designated S/1980 S 26 after its discovery.
The designation records the year of discovery, the planet Saturn, and the catalog number assigned to the satellite in that discovery sequence. Voyager 1 found Pandora in images taken during its 1980 Saturn encounter. The moon was later given the permanent name Pandora, drawn from Greek mythology.
Pandora is a small, irregular satellite located near Saturn’s F ring. Its gravitational interaction with the ring, together with that of the nearby moon Prometheus, helps maintain the ring’s narrow structure. This makes Pandora scientifically important despite its modest size.
The provisional code is easy to confuse with the moon’s eventual name or with designations of other Saturnian satellites. It is also separate from orbital measurements such as Pandora’s approximate diameter. The code identifies the discovery record, not a physical property of the moon.