Pandora is the Saturnian moon discovered in Voyager 1 images and named after the mythological Pandora.
Voyager 1 photographed the moon during its Saturn encounter in 1980. Pandora is a small outer shepherd satellite of Saturn’s narrow F ring, whose gravity helps influence the ring’s structure. It orbits outside the F ring, while the moon Prometheus orbits inside it.
The International Astronomical Union approved the name Pandora in 1985. The naming follows a convention in which many Saturnian satellites receive names from mythology and literature. Pandora’s neighboring shepherd moon Prometheus is likewise named for a figure from Greek mythology.
Pandora is not the same object as the asteroid 55 Pandora, and it is not Saturn’s largest moon. Its importance comes from its relationship with the F ring and from the Voyager observations that identified its shape and orbit.