Pandora is the Saturn moon named after the figure from Greek mythology and discovered in images from Voyager 1 in 1980. It is a small irregular satellite that acts as an outer shepherd moon of Saturn’s narrow F ring.
Pandora shares the F-ring region with Prometheus, another small Saturnian moon. Their gravitational influence helps confine and shape the ring, although the ring’s structure is complex and changes over time. Pandora’s elongated, heavily cratered appearance reflects its irregular, low-density nature.
The moon’s name is a common source of mix-ups because Saturn has several mythologically named satellites. Prometheus is the inner shepherd moon, Epimetheus is a co-orbital moon with Janus, and Janus is not Pandora’s partner in the F-ring shepherding system.
Voyager 1 passed Saturn in November 1980, producing the observations that led to the identification of several previously unknown moons. Pandora’s discovery therefore belongs to the early era of close spacecraft exploration of the Saturn system.