152 Atala

152 Atala is a large main belt 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 type D asteroid, meaning that it is composed of carbon, organic rich silicates and possibly water ice.
The asteroid is named for the eponymous heroine of the 1801 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.
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.