259 Aletheia is a very large main-belt asteroid that was discovered by German–American astronomer Christian Peters on June 28, 1886, at Litchfield Observatory, Clinton, New York. The dark and heterogeneously composed X-type (Tholen: CP-type) asteroid contains primitive carbonaceous materials, responsible for its low albedo of 0.04. Aletheia measures about 185 kilometers in diameter and belongs to the largest asteroids of the main-belt. It has a semi-major axis of 3.1 AU and an orbit inclined by 11 degrees with a period of 5.55 years.
Richard P. Binzel and Schelte Bus further added to the knowledge about this asteroid in a lightwave survey published in 2003. This project was known as Small Main-belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey, Phase II or SMASSII, which built on a previous survey of the main-belt asteroids. The visible-wavelength (0.435-0.925 micrometre) spectra data was gathered between August 1993 and March 1999.
Lightcurve data has also been recorded by observers at the Antelope Hill Observatory, which has been designated as an official observatory by the Minor Planet Center.
Lethe
Give me the drink of the fluid
That disintegrates
And lend me the sweet balm and blessing
Of forgetfulness, empty and strong
Hold me near, unravel the stars
As I speed through the heavens
Speed through the night
For you are my blade and my rope
Your are my
Lethe
In currents of cobalt
You storm through my heart
To sever, to puncture
The memories that burn
Let sweep through the arteries
In sharp stabs of pain
Your talonlike fingers to kill me again
Steal me, invade me and charge me again
For I burn and I shudder
Burn with each movement of
So, cleansed through a floodlight
I appear; reforged and renewed
Caressed by the sweet balm and blessing
Of forgetfulness, empty and strong
Lethe,
Hold me near, my one friend and guide
As I drown through your fingers
Drown through your love
For you are the life I hate
You are my
Lethe
Drag me down, in passionate sighs
With the ocean above me
And flames in my eyes
And grant me a life I can live