Pandora (redirected from Pandoras box)

Pandora, in astronomy

Pandora (păndôr`ə), in astronomy, one of the named moons, or natural satellites, of Saturn. Also known as Saturn XVII (or S17), Pandora is an irregularly shaped (nonspherical) body measuring about 71 mi (114 km) by 52 mi (84 km) by 38 mi (62 km); it orbits Saturn at a mean distance of 88,050 mi (141,700 km) and has an orbital period of 0.6285 earth days. The rotational period is unknown but is assumed to be the same as the orbital period. It was discovered by a team led by S. Collins in 1980 from an examination of photographs taken by Voyager 1 during its flyby of Saturn. Pandora is more heavily cratered—with at least two of the craters being more than 18 mi (30 km) in diameter—than the nearby moon Prometheus but exhibits neither linear ridges nor valleys. Pandora is the outer shepherd satellite (a moon that limits the extent of a planetary ring through gravitational forces) of Saturn's F ring.

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Pandora, in Greek mythology

Pandora (păndôr`ə), in Greek mythology, first woman on earth. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create her as vengeance upon man and his benefactor, Prometheus. The gods endowed her with every charm, together with curiosity and deceit. Zeus sent her as a wife to Epimetheus, Prometheus' simple brother, and gave her a box that he forbade her to open. Despite Prometheus' warnings, Epimetheus allowed her to open the box and let out all the evils that have since afflicted man. Hope alone remained inside the box.

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Pandora

In Greek mythology, the first woman. After Prometheus stole fire from heaven and bestowed it on mortals, Zeus decided to counteract this blessing and commissioned Hephaestus to fashion a woman out of earth, upon whom the gods bestowed their choicest gifts. After marrying Prometheus's brother, Pandora opened a jar containing all kinds of misery and evil, which escaped and flew out over the earth. In one version, Hope alone remained inside, the lid having been shut before she could escape.

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Pandora [pan′dȯr·ə]

(astronomy)

A satellite of Saturn which orbits at a mean distance of 88,000 miles (142,000 kilometers), just outside the F ring; together with Prometheus, it holds this ring in place.

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Pandora

inquisitively opens box of plagues given by Zeus. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 191]

See : Curiosity

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(language)

Pandora - Parlog extended to allow don't-know nondeterminism. ["Pandora: Non-Deterministic Parallel Logic Programming", R. Bahgat et al, Proc 6th Intl Conf Logic Programming, MIT Press 1989 pp. 471-486].