Prometheus shares the role of shepherd satellite for Saturn’s F ring with Pandora.
Prometheus is a small inner moon of Saturn whose gravity helps shape the planet’s narrow, dynamic F ring. Pandora orbits on the ring’s opposite side, so the pair are often described as shepherd moons. Their gravitational influence confines and perturbs ring particles, producing changing structures in the ring.
The names have a mythological connection. Prometheus and Pandora are both figures from Greek mythology, and Prometheus is Pandora’s brother-in-law in the Hesiodic story because Pandora marries his brother Epimetheus. The astronomical naming therefore links two related mythic names in the Saturn system.
Prometheus was discovered in images taken by Voyager 1 in 1980, although its discovery was announced after the identification of Pandora. It is not the same object as Saturn’s larger moon Rhea or the more famous icy moon Enceladus. The F ring’s shepherd relationship is a specific orbital role, not a general description of every moon near Saturn’s rings.