Dear Friend and Reader:
For minor planet astrologers, a number of new names were added to the Minor Planet Center list overnight, including TNO 2001 UQ18 (minor planet number 148780), which is now called Altjira.
 |
Altjira, named for the aboriginal god of the Dreamtime, is currently at 2+ Gemini — i.e., conjunct the most recent edition of Barack Obama’s Moon — and the Moon of the USA Solte chart (Scorpionic America).
Altjira has an orbital period of 293 years, placing it in the class of “cubewanos.” These are planets that are in the Kuiper Belt just beyond the orbit of Pluto, usually having orbits in range of about 300 years. They are always named for gods of creation and resurrection. Pluto is the largest known member of the Kuiper Belt, though I am unsure if Eris (somewhat larger) is in this region or the Oort Cloud. All of these planets orbit our own Sun. (Kirsti has written to me and said it’s nowhere near the Oort cloud. That is waaay further out thank the Kuiper Belt.)
Among the new asteroids are 12608 Aesop and 24997 Petergabriel, currently at 12+ and 7+ Libra respectively. Nice signs for these two discoveries.
This data was sent to me by Tracy at Serennu.com.
