Who discovered the asteroid 79 Eurynome?

Eurynome (minor planet designation: 79 Eurynome) is a quite large and bright main-belt asteroid composed of silicate rock. It was discovered by J. C. Watson on September 14, 1863.

It was his first asteroid discovery and is named after one of the many Eurynomes in Greek mythology. It is orbiting the Sun with a period of 3.82 years and has a rotation period of six hours. This is the eponymous member of a proposed asteroid family with at least 43 members.

James Craig Watson (January 28, 1838 – November 22, 1880) was a Canadian-American astronomer, discoverer of comets and minor planets and director of the University of Michigan's Detroit Observatory in Ann Arbor.

He discovered 22 asteroids, beginning with 79 Eurynome in 1863. He participated actively in eclipse expeditions (Iowa, 1869; Sicily, 1870; Wyoming, 1878), and he also led an expedition to observe the transit of Venus (Peking, 1874). At the 1878 eclipse, he became interested in the possible existence of an intra-Mercurial planet. He believed he had observed one, and devoted considerable effort to calculations which would aid in the verification of his observation. Unfortunately, his calculations were never published, and his observation never verified.

He had amassed a considerable fortune through non-astronomical business activities and, by bequest, established the James Craig Watson Medal, awarded every two years by the National Academy of Sciences for contributions to astronomy.