Which spacecraft discovered Saturn’s moon Pandora in 1980?

Voyager 1 discovered Saturn’s moon Pandora in 1980.

The discovery came from images taken during Voyager 1’s close study of the Saturn system. Pandora is a small, irregular moon that orbits near Saturn’s narrow F ring, where its gravity helps shape the ring’s structure. The moon was found near the ring while researchers examined Voyager photographs.

Pandora is sometimes confused with Prometheus, another small moon associated with Saturn’s F ring. Prometheus was also discovered in Voyager images, but it is the inner shepherd moon, while Pandora is the outer shepherd moon. The two moons work together gravitationally to confine the F ring.

Pandora was later observed in greater detail by the Cassini spacecraft, which entered orbit around Saturn in 2004. Cassini images showed its heavily cratered, low-density surface and helped scientists study how small moons interact with planetary rings.