Today in History: 2 Pallas

On this day (March 28) in 1802, Heinrich Wilhelm Matthaus Olber discovered the asteroid now called 2 Pallas. It was the second asteroid ever discovered (after Ceres) and is the third most massive asteroid in the asteroid belt (containing approximately 7% of the mass of the asteroid belt). Initially it was thought to be a planet, but after several other asteroids were discovered the “planets” were reclassified.