62 Erato

62 Erato
	Lightcurve-based 3D-model of Erato
Discovery
Discovered by	Oskar Lesser; Wilhelm Julius Foerster
Discovery date	14 September 1860
Designations
MPC designation	(62) Erato
Pronunciation	/ˈɛrətoʊ/ ERR-ə-toh
Named after	Erato
Minor planet category	main-belt · (middle); Themis
Orbital characteristics
	Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion	550.315 Gm (3.679 AU)
Perihelion	383.868 Gm (2.566 AU)
Semi-major axis	467.092 Gm (3.122 AU)
Eccentricity	0.178
Orbital period (sidereal)	2015.178 d (5.52 a)
Mean anomaly	161.828°
Inclination	2.223°
Longitude of ascending node	125.738°
Argument of perihelion	273.285°
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	95.4 km
Synodic rotation period	5.675±0.001 h
Geometric albedo	0.061
Spectral type	Ch (SMASSII); BU (Tholen)
Absolute magnitude (H)	8.76

62 Erato (/ˈɛrətoʊ/ ERR-ə-toh) is a carbonaceous Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 95 kilometers (59 miles) in diameter.

Erato is the first asteroid to have been credited with co-discoverers, Oskar Lesser and Wilhelm Forster, who discovered it on 14 September 1860, from the Berlin Observatory. It was their first and only asteroid discovery. The name was chosen by Johann Franz Encke, director of the observatory, and refers to Erato, the Muse of lyric poetry in Greek mythology.^[4] It has also been classified as an Eoan asteroid.^[2]

References

^ "Small Bodies Data Ferret". Nesvorny HCM Asteroid Families V3.0. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
^ ^a ^b Alvarez-Candal, Alvaro; et al. (December 2004), "Rotational lightcurves of asteroids belonging to families", Icarus, 172 (2): 388–401, Bibcode:2004Icar..172..388A, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2004.06.008.
^ Asteroid Data Sets Archived 2010-01-17 at WebCite
^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 21. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.

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