Discovered by Hermann Goldschmidt Discovery date September 19, 1857 Named after Pales Orbital period 5.4 years Discovered 19 September 1857 Spectral type C-type asteroid | Discovery site Paris Observatory MPC designation 49 Minor planet category Main belt Orbital period 5.4 years Orbits Sun Discoverer Hermann Goldschmidt | |
Similar Hermann Goldschmidt discoveries, Other celestial objects | ||
49 Pales /ˈpeɪliːz/ is a large, dark main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by German-French astronomer Hermann Goldschmidt on September 19, 1857 from his balcony in Paris. The asteroid is named after Pales, the goddess of shepherds in Roman mythology. Since it was discovered on the same night as 48 Doris, geologist Élie de Beaumont suggested naming the two "The Twins".
Pales has been studied by radar. Photometric observations of this asteroid from the Torino Observatory during 1977 gave a light curve with a period of 10.42 ± 0.02 hours and a brightness variation of 0.18 in magnitude. The curve appeared to show a secondary minima. The shape of the curve has a similar appearance to the light curve of binary star Algol, suggesting that this may be a binary asteroid system.