Basics
Class: S-type asteroid
Location: Main belt
Orbit length (approx): 4.15 years
Discovered: 15th August 1868 (time unknown), from Ann Arbor, MI, by James Craig Watson
Notes: Large, rocky asteroid with a mean radius about 66km.
Events at time of discovery:
- August 7 – Birth of Oo Zun, Burmese social worker and Buddhist nun
- August 13 – The 8.5-9.0 Mw Arica earthquake strikes southern Peru, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), causing 25,000+ deaths and a destructive basin-wide tsunami, that affects Hawaii and New Zealand.
- August 18 – The element later named as helium is first detected in the spectrum of the Sun’s chromosphere, but is assumed to be sodium.
Naming information
Name origin: Helen, Greek daughter of Zeus and Leda.
Mythology: Wife of Menelaos and queen of Sparta, famed for her beauty, who was kidnapped by Paris of Troy following a certain incident involving a golden apple and a divine beauty competition, which act caused the Trojan War. After the Greek victory she returns to Sparta.
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| Naturally there are multiple depictions of Helen in art; perhaps equally naturally, I chose this one: Helen of Troy (1863), oil on panel painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. |
Astrological data
Discovery degree: 28+ Pisces
Discovery Sabian: Light Breaking Into Many Colors Through a Prism
Discovery nodal signature: Pisces–Virgo
Estimated orbital resonances: Ceres 10:9, Jupiter 17:6
Discovery chart details: Noon. Mars, Sedna and Nessus formed a T-square on the cardinal points; Jupiter, Vesta and Saturn formed a FotW. Helena was trine Saturn, quincunx Vesta and semi-sextile Ceres. Venus square Neptune, sextile Pluto and trine Juno; Mars quincunx Pallas; Ceres semi-square Jupiter; Saturn trine Chiron; Chariklo conjunct Uranus and sextile Pluto. Pallas trine Nessus and sextile Sedna.
Summary and references
Meanings given so far include: one’s chosen social group and recreational companions[1]; alluring beauty of any kind, charisma, potent seductiveness, or lack thereof[2]. In the correspondences I’d suggest there’s a longing for the sacred and true, which can sometimes be confused with or subsumed by baser desires. In one sense, this could be considered the soul journey of humans themselves in a nutshell.
References:
1) Amable: (101) Helena
2) Path-strology: Fun and Unique Asteroids in the Natal Chart: Part 3
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| Noon discovery chart for (101) Helena: 15th August 1868, Ann Arbor, MI. |