Basics
Class: Trans-Neptunian object
Location: Detached extreme TNO
Orbit length (approx): 6658.09 years
Discovered: 6th November 2004, 02:38 UTC, from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile, by Andrew C. Becker
Notes: Alicanto never reaches closer than 47 AU from the Sun (near the outer edge of the main Kuiper belt), and averages a distance of more than 300 AU. Likely gravitationally scattered onto its current orbit.
Events at time of discovery:
- November 6 – Chilean army commander General Juan Emilio Cheyre releases a statement saying abuses under Augusto Pinochet were “punishable and morally unacceptable acts of the past”, reversing its previous stance that they were excesses carried out by individual officers.
- – Conflict in Iraq: Three suicide car bombs in Samarra kill 19 Iraqi police, two Iraqi National Guardsmen, two Iraqi Rapid Reaction Forces, and 11 civilians, with 48 wounded. In Ramadi, an Iraqi is killed and 20 U.S. Marines are wounded after a shoot-out between the Marines and rebels. A physician at Fallujah General Hospital reports two dead and maintains no foreign fighters have been admitted to his hospital.
- – Nine French peacekeepers and a U.S. citizen are killed in the rebel-held town of Bouake in Côte d’Ivoire after government warplanes bomb the town to root out insurgents. In response, the French military launches attacks which destroy two warplanes at Yamoussoukro airport.
- – At an anti-nuclear waste shipment protest rally near the French town of Avricourt a protester, Sébastien Briat, is killed after a train severs his leg. The 23-year-old French man was protesting against the CASTOR transport.
- – Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Lebanese Militant group, Hezbollah, has flown a reconnaissance drone over Israeli territory for the first time.
- – The Ralph Nader/Peter Camejo campaign has filed a challenge to the voting results in New Hampshire after receiving numerous complaints from voting rights activists. This effort is widely encouraged by Democrats and Independents due to suspected flaws related to Diebold Election Systems voting machines.
- – Death of: Pola Alonso, 80, Argentine film actress; Fred Dibnah, 66, British steeplejack and television presenter; Pete Jolly, 72, American jazz pianist and accordionist; Robert Lang, 70, English actor; Elizabeth Rogers, 70, American actress; Marion Shilling, 93, American film actress
Naming information
Name origin: The Alicanto is a mythological nocturnal bird of the desert of Atacama, from Chilean folklore.
Mythology: An alicanto’s wings shine at night with beautiful, metallic colours, possibly indicating the type of ore it eats. The bird can’t fly because of the weight of its food; it runs instead, faster if it hasn’t eaten recently. A miner that follows an alicanto without being noticed by the bird can find rich mineral outcrops or entierros (buried treasure). If the alicanto discovers it is being followed, it will dim the shining of its wings, and disappear into the night. Also, if the miner is not of “good heart”, the alicanto may guide them off a cliff. It is said that an alicanto guided Juan Godoy to rich silver outcrops in 1832, causing the Chilean silver rush.
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| Screenshot of Alicanto’s orbit in the solar system, with position dated to time of discovery, courtesy of JPL. |
Astrological data
Discovery degree: 28+ Aries
Discovery Sabian: The Music of the Spheres
Discovery nodal signature: Gemini–Sagittarius
Estimated orbital resonances: Eris 1:12
Discovery chart details: Last quarter phase chart with Ceres on IC and Eris close to MC. Stellium in Libra. Alicanto was semi-square Asbolus. Mercury quincunx and Uranus sextile North Node. Moon semi-square Jupiter; Sun trine Vesta and Asbolus; Mercury square Uranus. Venus-Chariklo semi-square Pholus; Mars square Saturn and semi-sextile Pholus; Saturn sesquiquadrate Asbolus. Pluto trine and Juno square Eris; Pallas trine Sedna; Nessus sextile Pholus.
Summary and references
Meanings given so far include: infiltration, capacity to make drastic decisions, spiritual intelligence[1]; availability to those proving worthy, stalking, prospecting, business or financial ability[2]; success for those of a good heart[3]. I have previously delineated Alicanto as suggestive of the inner light, profound spirituality, the divine connection of every soul, the web of wyrd, and the sacredness encompassing the universe and all its contents.
References:
1) Amable: (474640) Alicanto
2) Mark Andrew Holmes: Alicanto
3) Kirsti Melto: New Moon in Taurus / Partial Solar Eclipse – April 30, 2022
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| Discovery chart for (474640) Alicanto: 6th November 2004, 02:38 UTC, Cerro Tololo, Chile. The body is not depicted. |