52 Europa is one of the larger asteroids in the asteroid belt, having a diameter of 300 km. It was discovered on February 4, 1858, by Hermann Goldschmidt from his balcony in Paris. It is named after Europa, one of Zeus's conquests in Greek mythology, a name it shares with Jupiter's moon Europa.
Read more about 52 Europa: Physical Characteristics, Observations
Famous quotes containing the word europa:
“I care not what the sailors say:
All those dreadful thunder-stones,
All that storm that blots the day
Can but show that Heaven yawns;
Great Europa played the fool
That changed a lover for a bull.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)