59 Elpis is a very large 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 is a C-type asteroid

C-type asteroid

C-type asteroids are carbonaceous asteroids. They are the most common variety, forming around 75% of known asteroids, and an even higher percentage in the outer part of the asteroid belt beyond 2.7 AU, which is dominated by this asteroid type...

, meaning that it is very dark and carbonaceous

Carbonate

In chemistry, a carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, . The name may also mean an ester of carbonic acid, an organic compound containing the carbonate group C2....

 in composition.

Elpis was discovered by Jean Chacornac

Jean Chacornac

Jean Chacornac was a French astronomer.He was born in Lyon and died in St Jean en Royans. Working in Marseille and Paris, he discovered six asteroids. The asteroid 1622 Chacornac and the crater Chacornac on the Moon are named in his honour....

 from Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, on September 12, 1860. It was Chacornac's sixth and final asteroid discovery.

A controversy arose over the naming of Elpis. Urbain Leverrier, director of the Paris Observatory

Paris Observatory

The Paris Observatory is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centres in the world...

, at first refused to allow Chacornac to name the object, because Leverrier was promoting a plan to reorganize asteroid nomenclature by naming them after their discoverers, rather than mythological figures. A protest arose among astronomers. At the Vienna Observatory

Vienna Observatory

Universitäts-Sternwarte Wien is an astronomical observatory in Vienna, Austria. It is part of the University of Vienna. The first observatory was built in 1753–1754 on the roof of one of the university buildings....

, Edmund Weiss

Edmund Weiss

Edmund Weiß was an Austrian astronomer.He was born in Frývaldov, Austrian Silesia, now Jeseník, Czech Silesia. In 1869 he became a professor at the University of Vienna. He was named the director of the Vienna observatory in 1878...

, who had been studying the asteroid, asked the observatory's director, Karl L. Littrow

Karl L. Littrow

Karl Ludwig Edler von Littrow was an Austrian astronomer.Born in Kazan, Russian Empire, son of Joseph Johann Littrow. He succeeded his father as director of the Vienna Observatory...

, to name it. Littrow chose Elpis

Elpis

In Greek mythology, Elpis was the personification of hope , perhaps a child of Nyx and mother of Pheme, the goddess of fame, renown and rumor. She was depicted as a young woman, usually carrying flowers or cornucopia in her hands...

, a Greek personification of hope

Hope

Hope is the emotional state which promotes the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. It is the "feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best" or the act of "look[ing] forward to with desire and reasonable confidence" or...

, in reference to the favorable political conditions in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

at the time. In 1862, Leverrier permitted Chacornac to choose a name, and he selected "Olympia". However, Elpis is the name that stuck.