Pandora is the Saturn moon discovered in Voyager 1 images in 1980 and named after the mythological Pandora. It is a small, irregular satellite that orbits near Saturn’s F ring.
Voyager 1 photographed Pandora during its 1980 encounter with Saturn. The moon’s discovery was announced after the spacecraft’s images revealed a previously unknown object near the planet’s rings. Pandora was later recognized as an outer shepherd satellite of the narrow F ring.
Pandora is sometimes confused with Prometheus, another small Saturnian moon. Prometheus orbits on the inner side of the F ring, while Pandora orbits on the outer side; together, the two moons help shape and confine the ring.
The moon’s name comes directly from Pandora in Greek mythology. Its identification is unrelated to the asteroid 55 Pandora, which is a separate Solar System object discovered in 1858.