Which Saturnian ring does Pandora help shepherd alongside Prometheus?

Pandora helps shepherd Saturn’s F ring alongside the moon Prometheus.

Saturn’s F ring is a narrow, braided ring located outside the planet’s main bright rings. Pandora orbits just outside it, while Prometheus travels just inside it. Their gravitational effects help confine and perturb the ring’s icy particles.

The term “shepherd moon” describes a satellite whose gravity influences the edges or structure of a ring. Pandora and Prometheus do not simply hold the F ring in a perfectly smooth shape; their interactions also contribute to strands, kinks, and other changing features.

Pandora was discovered in Voyager 1 images in 1980 and received its mythological name later. The F ring should not be confused with Saturn’s much broader A and B rings, which are among the planet’s most conspicuous ring structures.