Asteroid 55 Pandora, discovered in 1858, was named after the Greek myth.
55 Pandora is a main-belt asteroid discovered by the American astronomer George Mary Searle on September 10, 1858, at the Albany Observatory in New York. Its name follows the tradition of assigning mythological names to many asteroids, especially those found during the early decades of asteroid discovery.
The number 55 indicates its position in the historical sequence of numbered minor planets, not its size or distance from the Sun. Pandora orbits within the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is classified as an S-type asteroid, a broad category associated with stony, silicate-rich compositions.
This object is separate from Pandora, the moon of Saturn, and from the mythological character. The asteroid’s designation is written with a number and name, while the moon is commonly identified simply as Pandora or Saturn XVII in older numbering conventions. These similarly named astronomical objects are a frequent source of confusion.