8 Flora
Main belt asteroid. It is probably a mixture of silicate rock and nickel-iron metals.
It is the largest member of the Flora asteroid family, a remnant of a larger parent body that shattered in a violent collision.
It was discovered by J. R. Hind on October 18, 1847. It was his second asteroid discovery after 7 Iris.
The name Flora was proposed by
John Herschel, from
Flora, the
Latin goddess of flowers and gardens, wife of
Zephyrus (the personnification of the West wind), mother of Spring, and whose Greek equivalent is
Chloris (who has her own asteroid,
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