Pandora (moon) (original) (raw)
Pandora
| Discovery | |
| Discovered by | Voyager 2 |
| Discovered in | 1980 |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Semimajor axis | 141,700 km |
| Eccentricity | 0.0042 |
| Revolution period | 15h 5m |
| Inclination | 0° |
| Is a satellite of | Saturn |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Mean radius | 41.9 km |
| Mass | 1.94×1017 kg |
| Mean density | 0.6 g/cm3 |
| Surface gravity | 0.008 m/s2 |
| Rotation period | unknown |
| Axial tilt | 0° |
| Albedo | 0.6 |
| Atmosphere | none |
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.