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2 Pallas ("PAL us") 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 who 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 give it an accurate diameter.
During the occultation of May 29, 1979 the discovery of a possible tiny satellite with a diameter of ~1 km was reported. However, it has not been confirmed. In 1980, speckle interferometry was reported as indicating a much larger satellite with a diameter of 175 km, but the existence of the satellite was later refuted. (1) (http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/asteroidmoonsq.html)
Pallas has not yet been visited by a spacecraft, but if the Dawn probe is successful in studying 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta, its mission may be extended to Pallas.
The chemical element palladium (atomic number 46) was named after Pallas.
References
de:Pallas (Asteroid) es:(2) Palas fr:2 Pallas
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