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Pandora (moon)

Pandora
Discovery
Discovered byVoyager 2
Discovered in1980
Orbital characteristics
Semimajor axis141,700 km
Eccentricity0.0042
Revolution period15h 5m
Inclination
Is a satellite ofSaturn
Physical characteristics
Mean radius41.9 km
Mass1.94×1017 kg
Mean density0.6 g/cm3
Surface gravity0.008 m/s2
Rotation periodunknown
Axial tilt
Albedo0.6
Atmospherenone

Pandora is a moon of Saturn, named after Pandora from Greek mythology. It was discovered in 1980 from Voyager photos. Pandora is the outer shepherd satellite of the F ring. It is more heavily cratered than nearby Prometheus, and has at least two large craters 30 km in diameter but shows no linear ridges or valleys.

From its very low density and relatively high albedo, it seems likely that Pandora is a very porous icy body. There is a lot of uncertainty in these values, however, and so this remains to be confirmed.