2 Pallas
2 Pallas was the first asteroid discovered after 1 Ceres. It was found and named by H. Wilhelm Olbers on March 28, 1802. It was named after Pallas of Greek mythology, the daughter of Triton and friend of Athena. There is another Pallas in Greek mythology that is male, the god of wisdom; however, the first asteroids were invariably given female names.
Pallas is the second largest Main belt asteroid. Its orbit is located in the central part of the belt but it is somewhat inclined and eccentric for a large asteroid. The composition of Pallas is unique but quite similar to the C-type asteroids.
Pallas has been observed occulting a star several times. Careful occultation timing measurements have helped giving it an accurate diameter.
During the occultation of May 29, 1979 discovery of a possible tiny satellite with a diameter of ~1 km was reported. However, it has not been confirmed.
Based on the speckle interferometry, a much larger satellite with a diameter of 175 km was reported in 1980. The existence of the satellite was refuted later. [1]
If the Dawn is successful in studying 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta, the mission may be extended to Pallas.
The chemical element palladium (atomic number 46) was named after asteroid Pallas.