5982 Polykletus (4862 T-1) is a main-belt asteroid discovered on May 13, 1971 by Cornelis Johannes van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld and Tom Gehrels at Palomar Observatory. It is named for the Greek sculptor Polykletus of Argos. Together with Phidias (see planet 4753 Phidias) he is considered the most important sculptor of his time. Asteroids (from Greek 'star' and 'like, in form') are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones. These terms have historically been applied to any astronomical object orbiting the Sun that did not show the disk of a planet and was not observed to have the characteristics of an active comet, but as small objects in the outer Solar System were discovered, their volatile-based surfaces were found to more closely resemble comets, and so were often distinguished from traditional asteroids.