Pandora, the shepherd satellite discovered in Voyager images, is a moon of Saturn. It orbits near Saturn’s F ring and helps gravitationally influence the ring’s structure.
Voyager 1 photographed Pandora in 1980, and the satellite was identified from those images. It was later named Pandora after the figure from Greek mythology. Pandora’s orbit lies outside the F ring, while the nearby moon Prometheus orbits inside it. Their combined gravitational effects help confine and shape the narrow ring.
The satellite is small and irregular, with a mean radius of roughly 40 kilometers. Its low density and bright, complex surface reflect the unusual environment of Saturn’s ring system. Cassini later provided much more detailed observations of Pandora and its neighboring moons.
This moon should not be confused with the exoplanetary moon-like setting in the film Avatar or with the asteroid 55 Pandora. In astronomy, the mythological name has been assigned to objects in different parts of the Solar System.