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Pandora was discovered by space telescopes (such as COSTIN) at some point between 2050 and 2077. Astronomers were stunned by evidence of strong magnetic fields. Pandora's discovery prompted the invention of even larger space telescopes for more accurate readings.

The news services would run clips of the wild scenery on Pandora and its bizarre flora and fauna, prompting many people on Earth to dream about visiting the moon, although this was mainly reserved for the hyper rich or qualified Resources Development Administration (RDA) officials.

Around the year 2119, mass colonization and terraforming of Pandora began to occur.[4] While the RDA is responsible for researching Pandora and extracting resources, it also has a joint research program with the Pandoran Research Foundation. Meanwhile, the Pandora Conservation Initiative is unaffiliated with the RDA.

Earth is currently undergoing the height of the Anthropocene Extinction, which means Pandora is of great interest to humanity due to the amount of natural resources it has. The RDA has set up two major facilities on Pandora, Hell's Gate and Bridgehead, with at least one other city.

Due to Pandora's lower gravity, most creatures on Pandora are hexapods (six-legged), although the Na'vi resemble humans and have only four limbs. Creatures roam the air and forest canopy below, similar to Earth's animals, but on a scale several times larger. One of the most domesticated creatures on Pandora is the direhorse, a gray-skinned, hexapodal herbivorous animal with bioluminescent qualities that the Na'vi ride when hunting, similar to the human usage of horses. The Na'vi also ride the mountain banshee to hunt from the air, but the hunter can become prey in the presence of the great leonopteryx. In the canopy below, other deadly yet exotic wild animals roam: vicious packs of viperwolves, thick skinned hammerhead titanotheres and the most fearsome predatory animal of all, the thanator.

Other than the richness of varying colors, the trees resemble those of Earth. They have the familiar trunks, branches and leaves, though due to the difference in gravity, many of the shapes appear strange to humans and the proportions are greater because of the lower gravity. The trees and plant life of Pandora have formed electrochemical connections between their roots and effectively act as neurons, creating a moon-wide "brain" that has achieved sentience, which is known to the Na'vi as Eywa.

Pandora's wildlife also has bioluminescent qualities. Pandora looks like a lush paradise by Earth standards during the day, but at night, virtually all life on the moon exhibits bioluminescent qualities in various shades of blue, purple and green. This possibly explains the Na'vi's blue skin color, which most likely provides them better camouflage at night on Pandora.

Pandora's atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide (>18%), xenon (>5.5%), methane, and hydrogen sulfide (>1%) and is about 20% denser than the atmosphere on Earth primarily due to the high percentage of Xenon; a heavy, colorless, odorless, and generally unreactive noble gas.

Pandora was able to retain such a deep atmosphere in spite of its small size because it orbits between Polyphemus's two radiation belts, and they serve to deflect much of the "stellar wind" which normally sweeps atoms away from the outer edge of the atmosphere.

The high concentration of carbon dioxide in the Pandoran atmosphere makes it extremely poisonous and unbreathable to humans, rendering them unconscious in about 20 seconds and causing death in about 4 minutes when they venture out unprotected by specialized breathing masks. The hydrogen sulfide present is also quite hazardous; concentrations over 1000 ppm (0.1 %) can cause immediate collapse with subsequent loss of breathing, even after inhalation of a single breath

Pandora receives significant light from Alpha Centauri B (ACB). As a result, Pandoran nights are never dark during half of the Polyphemian year, but instead are more like Earthly dusk. At the closest point in its orbit, ACB is about 2,300 times as bright as Earth's full moon; at its furthest point, it is still one hundred and seventy times as bright. During the other half of the year when ACB is in the daytime sky, many Pandoran nights are illuminated by both Polyphemus's huge disk and the reflected light from other nearby moons. Truly dark nights are uncommon. Polyphemus occasionally eclipses ACB at night for about one hundred minutes, but the light reflected by the planet still keeps the night from being dark.

When ACB shares the daytime sky with ACA, at its closest it adds about half a percent to the total illumination. When the two stars are close together in the sky, the effect of ACB's more orange light is unnoticeable. But, as they separate over the years, an orange tint may be seen in areas shadowed from ACA's direct illumination. At its most distant, ACB is about 2,700 times dimmer than ACA and does not produce noticeable lighting effects. However, it still appears as a blindingly bright tiny orange disk in the sky.

Because of its high axial tilt (29°), Pandora exhibits considerable annual variation in the day-to-night ratio. In addition, its elliptical orbit produces seasonal temperature variations and a range in daytime illumination of about ten percent.

Pandora possesses a liquid iron core, with circulating currents that produce a dipole field similar in structure to the Earth's. This fields shields the surface from cosmic rays of material ejected from Alpha Centrauri A, but unlike Earth, these intense magnetic fields are not as uniform, and concentrated unobtanium deposits produce localized distortions to the worldwide field that can act as magnetic funnels. These anomalies can channel incoming particles ejected from the sun to the moon's surface. Any life-form unlucky enough to be caught in one of these areas during a stellar flare event, or CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) will be quickly irradiated with a lethal dose. Depending of the type and amount of radiation, death can occur instantly as brain tissue is ionized and effectively "shorts out," or be delayed for agonizing days or weeks as the tissue slowly necrotizes.

Pandora's global field also interacts with Polyphemus's much more extensive one. This can divert radiation trapped in the planet's magnetic field to the moon's surface - also with unpleasant results. Additionally, the configuration of these two fields produces a "magnetic flux tube" that links the polar areas of the planet and satellite with an electrical current flow of millions of amperes. This causes a gigantic increase in electrical activity on both bodies, with massive lightning storms and other electromagnetic-phenomena.

Pandora's physical construction resembles Earth's: a liquid iron core, a plastic mantle, and a semi-rigid crust. Like Earth, it has two internal heat sources: the disintegration of radioactive isotopes, and energy from the gravitational collapse of its initial formation. There is an additional and much larger energy input from tidal forces; the nearest inner and outer moons pull on it in contest with Polyphemus. This excess of energy drives continental drift at a much faster rate than Earth, causing the tectonic plates to fracture more extensively because of the increased stress. This explains the lack of large continents on Pandora, as well as its volcanism and geothermal activity.

Pandora's land-to-water ratio is greater than Earth's, but because the land area is broken up into a larger number of smaller continents, no land area is as far from the ocean as on Earth, and there are still frequent rivers and bays. The moderating influence of oceans reduces extremes in temperature. Polar ice caps that are smaller than Earth's exist. However, due to the exponentially higher greenhouse composition in the moon's atmosphere, which then causes a much higher global average temperature than Earth, there are no land masses in the polar areas, the Pandoran ice caps are currently free-floating.

Pandora is more volcanically active than Earth. There are vents both on the land and under the oceans. Many of the mountains and other surface features are of recent volcanic origin. Numerous hot springs and geysers dot the landscape, and there are several rivers that are almost boiling at the place where they erupt from underground aquifers. All of these serve to maintain the local concentrations of hydrogen sulfide gas deadly to humans. Landforms are shaped extensively by the higher density atmosphere - dust grains carried by the wind are larger, and strike objects with greater energy. Exposed rock weathers more rapidly, creating more sedimentary material to be carried away by rivers.

The terrain on Pandora differs somewhat from place to place, as do the Na'vi clans that inhabit them. The humans have settled in the forest region which is home to the Omatikaya clan. There are different ecosystems within each region, and many species such as the mountain banshee are present over a much wider range of biomes than their name would suggest. The Pandoran surface features forests, mountains, volcanoes,[11] plains (savanna), and oceans. A desert also exists in Anurai mythology.[12]

Like on Earth, the forests of Pandora contain a wide diversity of flora and fauna. These are all part of the giant neural network that covers Pandora. The forests are full of bioluminescent life that glows in shades of blue, green, indigo and violet during the night.

Pandora is a treasure trove of both living and nonliving natural resources. It is the first celestial body to host intelligent sentient lifeforms away from Earth and is also home to a plethora of diverse and spectacular species unlike anything ever speculated by humanity. In terms of nonliving resources, several large areas of the moon's surface contain the extremely rare superconducting mineral unobtanium. This mineral is worth twenty million standard dollars per unrefined kilogram and twice that in its refined state. The mineral's superconductivity makes it a baffling scientific discovery.

The name Pandora refers to the first woman according to Greek mythology. She was a very curious woman who was given a jar (Pithos) and was told not to open it. Pandora was not able to resist opening the jar and, when she did, all the evils in the world were released. When she discovered the evil she'd unleashed, she hastened to close the jar, and managed to contain one evil before it escaped: "Hopelessness". Therefore, all humans still had hope, an idea that would eventually conquer the evils. Pandora was not punished for her actions, as Zeus knew she would open the Pithos.

In reality, one of the smaller moons of Saturn is named Pandora.

Polyphemus refers to a cyclops in Greek mythology, the son of Poseidon who was later blinded by Odysseus.