Pandora

Saturn X

Pandora Facts

• Pandora is the fourth of Saturn's known satellites:
  • distance from Saturn: 141,700 km
  • diameter: 84 km (114 x 84 x 62)
  • mass: 2.2e17 kg
  a.k.a. 1980 S 26.

• Pronounced "pan DOR uh".

• In Greek mythology Pandora was the first woman, bestowed upon humankind by Zeus as a punishment for Prometheus's theft of fire. Entrusted with a box containing all the ills that could plague people, she opened it out of curiosity and thereby released all the evils of human life; wife of Epimetheus.

• Discovered by Collins and others in 1980 from Voyager photos.

• Pandora is the outer shepherd satellite of the F ring.

• More heavily cratered than nearby Prometheus, Pandora has at least two large craters 30 km in diameter. But it shows no linear ridges or valleys.

Pictures

1. (above) Pandora 9k gif
2. shaded relief map 63k gif

3. Prometheus and Pandora and the F ring 79k gif

4. HST view of the motions of Saturn's inner satellites 307k gif (caption)
5. several moons (HST) 90k jpg; 215k gif (caption)

More about Pandora

• from LANL

Open Issues

• Little is known about Pandora.