50 Virginia is a large, very dark main belt asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

. It was discovered by James Ferguson

James Ferguson (astronomer)

James Ferguson was an American astronomer and engineer born in Scotland who made the first discovery of an asteroid from North America . Starting in 1847, he worked at the U.S...

 on October 4, 1857 from the United States Naval Observatory

United States Naval Observatory

The United States Naval Observatory is one of the oldest scientific agencies in the United States, with a primary mission to produce Positioning, Navigation, and Timing for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of Defense...

 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

. Robert Luther

Karl Theodor Robert Luther

Karl Theodor Robert Luther , normally published as Robert Luther, was a German astronomer who searched for asteroids while working in Düsseldorf....

 discovered it independently on October 19 from Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

, and his discovery was announced first.

The reason for Virginia's name is not known; it may be named after Verginia

Verginia

Verginia, or Virginia, was the subject of a story of Ancient Rome, related in Livy's Ab Urbe Condita.The people of Rome were already angry with the decemviri for not calling the proper elections, taking bribes, and other abuses. It seemed that they were returning to the rule of the Kings of Rome...

, the Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 noblewoman slain by her father, but it may alternatively have been named after the American state of Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, which is contiguous with Washington.