AsteroidIn 1854, the first observation made in North America of a previously unknown asteroid was recorded by Scottish-born American James Ferguson of the U.S. Naval Observatory. This was the thirty-first of the series and is now known as 31 Euphrosyne, named after one of the Charites in Greek mythology. It is one of the largest of the main belt asteroids, between Mars and Jupiter. Ferguson subsequently discovered two more asteroids: 50 Virginia (4 Oct 1857) and 60 Echo (14 Sep 1860). Within the next two decades, more asteroids were discovered by American astronomers: one by Searle, two by Tuttle (1861-62), 16 by Watson (1863-74), and 22 by Peters (1861-1875), making a total of 44 discovered in a period of about 20 years.« |
