Pandora

Characteristics of Astronomic Body
The name of my astronomic body is Pandora. Pandora is one of the 60 moons of Saturn and one of the 52 that were officially named. Pandora is with the moon, Prometheus; one of the F ring shepherd satellites. It was discovered by Collins and others from the Voyager photos of 1980. Pandora is irregularly shaped and it's the 13th. largest moon of Saturn. Pandora is a small ring moon, coated in fine dust sized material. The fractures of impacts and debris affects the overlying smooth material. Pandora's mass is 2.2617 kg. Its orbit is 141,700 km from Saturn, the diameter is 84 km (114x84x62). Pandora's orbit period (in days) us 0.6285. To this day little is known about Pandora.

Symbols and Duties of Mythological Figure
A symbol of Pandora would have to be Pandora's box. Every picture I have looked up has only her and her box, none of just her by herself. So I would have to say that Pandora's box is her symbol, it even has a story to go with it. She was a beautiful disaster sent to punish man.When she went to Earth she would distract men from their work. Pandora was a mortal herself, but after she opened her box she became the ultimate pariah. That means that people despised her for doing that, so I would say her relationship with mortals was bad. It is said that symbolically she is the "mother" of all troubles.

Birth Story of Mythological Figure
Jupiter wanted to punish Prometheus and Epimetheus. He thought that they stole fire from heaven. Jupiter ordered Hephaestus to make a clay woman and to have the four winds breathe life into her. Jupiter made her to be foolish and mischievous as she was beautiful. This woman; the first woman ever created was named Pandora. She was nicely dressed by all of the Olympians. She was the most beautiful woman ever created. Pandora was made in heaven, every God gave her something perfect. Venus gave her beauty, Mercury gave her persuasion, and Apollo music etc. Jupiter wanted her to be an evil for all men. She was intended to be a gift to Epitmetheus.

Popular Story of Mythological Figure
Prometheus knew that Jupiter was making something for his brother Epimetheus, therefore he tried to warn his brother. He told Epimetheus that Jupiter was trying to trick him and to refuse Jupiter's gift. Jupiter was so angry that Epimetheus refused his gift, that he chained Prometheus to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains. Every day a greedy vulture would come to Prometheus and eat his liver. Jupiter made Prometheus's liver grow back whole each day, so that the next day the vulture would come eat his liver, which would continue his horrific pain. Epimetheus was so terrified by his brothers punishment, that he gladly accepted Jupiter's gift. Jupiter's gift was Pandora. Pandora and Epimetheus married, they also had a daughter named Pyrrha. Pandora was a wicked, disobedient, and curious wife. Pandora also came with a jar, called Pandora's box. Just for a reminder, Prometheus did warn his brother about accepting any gift from Jupiter, would make all of man kind suffer. Pandora was entrusted with her box and she was told never to open it. One day, Pandora gave into the temptation and opened the box. Inside this box was old age, labor, sickness, insanity, vice, and passion. Also, there was envy, spite, and revenge for mans mind. All of these evils were released upon the world. When she opened the box, she became the ultimate pariah. The only thing left in the box was hope. Hope is the female entity that was sealed in Pandora's box. It is said that since hope was the only thing remaining, it must mean that whenever evil is upon us, hope never entirely leaves us.

Related Stories
Pandora was sent by all good means from Jupiter to bless men. She carried a box that contained blessings from every God. She opened the box and all the blessings escaped, except hope. People tend to find this story more probable, considering why hope(so good) be kept in a jar with all kinds of evils.

Myth or Science Connection
There is little known about Pandora the moon. All I could find in the relationships between the astronomic body and my mythological figure is that the moons of Saturn were suppose to be named after greco-roman titans and their descendants. But, later their names were for mythologies, so their names are the only similar I could find.

=Works Cited= Leeming, David, The World of Myth. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. Print. Hamilton, Edith, Mythology. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1942. Print. Bulfinch, Thomas, The Age of Fable. New York: The Heritage Press, 1942. Print. Bulfinch, Thomas, Bulfinch's Mythology. New York: Dell Publishing Company Incorporated, 1959. Print. Davis, Phil, and Munsell, Kirk. Saturns: Moons: Pandora. 26 Aug. 2009. National Aeronautics And Space Administration. Web. 8 Dec. 2009. Space Topics: Saturn. 1993-2009. The Planetary Society. Web. 8 Dec. 2009. Pillai, Maya. How Many Moons Does Saturn Have. 9 Sept. 2008. Buzzle.com. Web. 8 Dec. 2009. Arnett, Bill. Pandora. 13 Dec. 2005. Nine Planets.org. Web. 8 Dec. 2009. Hamilton, Calvin. Pandora. 1997-2002. Solarviews.com. Web. 8 Dec. 2009.