Which Saturnian moon is named after the mythological Pandora?

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The Saturnian moon named after the mythological Pandora is Pandora.

Pandora is a small inner moon of Saturn that orbits near the planet’s narrow F ring. Scientists discovered it in photographs taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1980, and it received the name Pandora in keeping with the tradition of naming Saturn’s moons after figures from Greek and Roman mythology.

Its name creates a particularly close mythological pairing with Epimetheus, another Saturnian moon. In Greek mythology, Pandora is associated with Epimetheus as his wife, while in the Saturn system the two moons occupy nearby orbital regions. Pandora also acts as an outer shepherd satellite of Saturn’s F ring, helping shape the ring’s structure through its gravitational influence.

Pandora is not the same object as the moon Prometheus, although both are associated with the F ring. Prometheus is the F ring’s inner shepherd, while Pandora lies on the outer side.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Oct. 2026

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