Prometheus is the Saturn moon that acts alongside Pandora as a shepherd of Saturn’s F ring.
Prometheus is an inner satellite of Saturn and one of the moons whose gravity helps confine and shape the narrow F ring. Pandora orbits on the other side of the ring, so the pair are commonly described as shepherd satellites. Their names come from related figures in Greek mythology.
Prometheus was discovered in images taken by Voyager 1 in 1980 and received its permanent name from the mythological Titan. The moon is irregular and heavily cratered, with a shape affected by its relatively small size and low gravity.
It is easy to confuse Prometheus with Epimetheus, another Saturn moon and the mythological figure linked to Pandora as her husband. In the ring system, however, Prometheus is the named companion that works with Pandora to influence the F ring’s structure.