Space · Moons
Pandora
A moon of Saturn — The F ring's outer shepherd — paired with Prometheus to confine the ring.
Quick facts
Parent planet
Diameter (mean)
81 km
Mass
1.37 × 10¹⁷ kg
1.86e-06 Moon masses
Mean orbital radius
141,720 km
Orbital period
0.629 Earth days
Discovery year
1980
Discoverer
Stewart A. Collins (Voyager 1)
Naming origin
First woman in Greek mythology; wife of Epimetheus
Surface conditions
Pandora is a 104×81×64 km irregular moon orbiting just outside Saturn's F ring, opposite Prometheus. Its gravity shepherds the ring's outer edge. Pandora is heavily cratered, with at least two craters more than 30 km across — substantial for a body 80 km in diameter.
Missions and observations
Every Saturn-system mission has had an opportunity to image or characterize Pandora. The list below is the Saturn-system mission catalog; specific Pandora encounters are documented in mission archives.
| Mission | Year at Saturn | Status |
|---|---|---|
|
Pioneer 11 NASA |
1979 | Completed |
|
Voyager 1 NASA |
1980 | Completed |
|
Voyager 2 NASA |
1981 | Completed |
|
Cassini-Huygens NASA/ESA/ASI |
2004 | Completed |
|
Dragonfly NASA |
2034 | On the way |
Naming etymology
Pandora was the first woman in Greek mythology, given a jar (later called a 'box') by Zeus and warned never to open it; her curiosity unleashed all the evils of the world. She was the wife of Epimetheus. The IAU adopted the name in 1985.
Methodology & sources
Diameter, mass, and orbital parameters from JPL Solar System Dynamics — Physical Parameters. Discovery year and discoverer from the JPL Satellite Discovery Circumstances. Naming etymology from the IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature. Stylized SVG hero composed from NASA / JPL imagery as visual reference; no photographs are reproduced.