152 Atala is a large

main belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, centered on the Sun and roughly spanning the space between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids ...

asteroid that was discovered by brothers Paul Henry and Prosper Henry on 2 November 1875, but the discovery was credited to Paul. It is a D-type asteroid, type D asteroid, meaning that it is composed of carbon, organic compound, organic rich silicates and possibly water ice. The asteroid is named for the eponymous heroine of the 1801 novella ''Atala (novella), Atala'' by François-René de Chateaubriand. The Henry brothers also named the last of their discoveries, 186 Celuta, after another Chateaubriand heroine. Both Atala and Céluta are Native Americans in the United States, American Indian fictional characters.; An occultation of a star by Atala was observed from Japan on 11 March 1994. Subsequent occultations have been observed as recently as 2006. Photometry (astronomy), Photometric of this asteroid made in 1981 gave a light curve with a period of 5.282 ± 0.004 hours with a brightness variation of 0.50 in Magnitude (astronomy), magnitude.

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Occultation of TYC 5558-01048-1 by (152) Atala
on 2006 May 7 UT
(152) Atala near opposition 5 July 2007
(2.38AU from Earth) * * Background asteroids, 000152 Discoveries by Paul Henry and Prosper Henry Named minor planets Objects observed by stellar occultation, 000152 I-type asteroids (Tholen), 000152 S-type asteroids (SMASS), 000152 Astronomical objects discovered in 1875, 18751102 François-René de Chateaubriand {{beltasteroid-stub