The namesake of the family is
2 Pallas, an extremely large asteroid with a mean diameter of about 512 km.[3] The remaining bodies are far smaller; the largest is
5222 Ioffe with an estimated diameter of 22 km. This, along with the preponderance of the otherwise rare B spectral type among its members, indicates that this is likely a cratering family composed of ejecta from impacts on Pallas. Another suspected Palladian is
3200 Phaethon, the parent body of the
Geminid meteor shower.[4] The family was first noted by
Kiyotsugu Hirayama in 1928.
Y. Kozai Secular perturbations of asteroids and comets In: Dynamics of the solar system; Proceedings of the Symposium, Tokyo, Japan, May 23–26, 1978. Dordrecht, D. Reidel Publishing Co., 1979, p. 231-236; Discussion, p. 236, 237.