Which spacecraft first discovered Saturn’s moon Pandora?

Voyager 1 first discovered Saturn’s moon Pandora in images taken in 1980.

The spacecraft encountered the Saturn system in November 1980 during its historic planetary tour. Pandora had already been captured in photographs taken in October of that year, but the images were examined and the object was recognized as a new satellite. It received the provisional designation S/1980 S 26 before being named Pandora.

Pandora is one of Saturn’s small irregular moons. Its discovery was especially significant because it lies near the planet’s narrow F ring, where its gravity helps influence the ring’s shape. The neighboring moon Prometheus was discovered from Voyager images as well, and the pair became known as shepherd satellites of the F ring.

NASA’s Cassini mission later made repeated observations of Pandora and Prometheus, revealing more about their surfaces and orbital interaction. Cassini therefore studied Pandora in far greater detail, but it was not the spacecraft that discovered the moon. Voyager 1 is the specific answer to the discovery question.