2 Pallas

File:Potw1749a Pallas crop.png

An telescope image of Pallas

2 Pallas (symbol: ⚴) is the second asteroid discovered in the solar system. It was discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers on March 28, 1802. 2 Pallas is named after Pallas Athena, an alternate name for the goddess Athena.

2 Pallas has a mass estimated to be 7% of the total mass of the asteroid belt. The asteroid is the third largest asteroid in terms of mass and the second largest in terms of diameter.

2 Pallas Media

• Size comparison: the first 10 asteroids profiled against the Moon. Pallas is number two.

• Pallas - Potw2008a.jpg

  High-resolution images of the north (at left) and south (at right) hemispheres of Pallas, made possible by the Adaptive-Optics (AO)-fed SPHERE imager on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in 2020. Two large impact basins could have been created by Palladian asteroid–forming impacts. The bright spot in the southern hemisphere is reminiscent of the salt deposits on Ceres.

• Ceres and Pallas symbols, 1802.png

  The symbols for Ceres and Pallas, as published in 1802

• Pallas symbol (fixed width).svg

  Pallas symbol (fixed width)

• Athene symbol (fixed width).svg

  Cordate variant of Pallas symbol

• Sulphur symbol (fixed width).svg

  Sulphur symbol (fixed width)

• 2 Pallas orbit Jan2018.png

  Pallas has a high eccentricity and a highly inclined orbit

• The Four Largest Asteroids.jpg

  Relative sizes of the four largest asteroids. Pallas is second from right.