196 Philomela is a large and bright main belt asteroid. It is an S-type asteroid.^{[citation needed]}

It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on May 14, 1879 in Clinton, New York and named after Philomela, the woman who became a nightingale in Greek mythology.^[1]

In the late 1990s, a network of astronomers worldwide gathered lightcurve data that was ultimately used to derive the spin states and shape models of 10 new asteroids, including (196) Philomela. ^[2][3]

To date there have been two reported Philomelian stellar occultations.^{[citation needed]}

References