Erato is a large and dark, probably carbonaceous main belt
asteroid. It is a member of the Themis asteroid family. Erato is the first
asteroid to have been credited with co-discoverers, Oskar Lesser and Wilhelm
Forster, who discovered it on September 14, 1860. It was their first and
only asteroid discovery. It is named after Erato, the Muse of lyric poetry
in Greek mythology.