62 Erato
Erato is a carbonaceous Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 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, 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. It has also been classified as an Eoan asteroid.
