62 Erato Explained

Minorplanet:	yes
Background:	D6D6D6
62 Erato
Discovered:	14 September 1860
Mpc Name:	(62) Erato
Pronounced:	^[1]
Adjective:	Eratoian
Named After:	Ἐρατώ Eratō
Epoch:	31 December 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Semimajor:	3.122abbr=onNaNabbr=on
Perihelion:	2.566abbr=onNaNabbr=on
Aphelion:	3.679abbr=onNaNabbr=on
Eccentricity:	0.178
Period:	2015.178days
Inclination:	2.223°
Asc Node:	125.738°
Arg Peri:	273.285°
Mean Anomaly:	161.828°
Mass:	c.  (calculated)
Density:	(assumed)^[2]
Rotation:	or
Abs Magnitude:	8.76
Albedo:	0.061^[3]

62 Erato is a carbonaceous Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 95abbr=offNaNabbr=off in diameter. Photometric measurements during 2004–2005 showed a rotation period of with an amplitude of in magnitude. It is orbiting the Sun with a period of 2015.178days, a semimajor axis of, and eccentricity of 0.178. The orbital plane is inclined by an angle of 2.22° to the plane of the ecliptic.

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.

Notes and References

1. Noah Webster (1884). A Practical Dictionary of the English Language.
2. Hidden Mass in the Asteroid Belt . Krasinsky . G. A. . Pitjeva . E. V. . Vasilyev . M. V. . Yagudina . E. I. . Icarus . 158 . 1 . 98–105 . July 2002 . 10.1006/icar.2002.6837 . 2002Icar..158...98K.
3. Web site: Asteroid Data Sets . Planetary Data System Asteroid/Dust Archive . NASA . 13 January 2007 . 17 December 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091217104722/http://www.psi.edu/pds/resource/albedo.html . dead .
4. Book: Schmadel, Lutz D.. Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. 2003. Springer . 978-3-540-00238-3. 21.