Basics
Class: S-type asteroid
Location: Inner main belt
Orbit length (approx): 3.48 years
Discovered: 2nd May 1865 (time unknown), at Madras Observatory, Chennai, India, by Norman Robert Pogson
Notes: Mean diameter is approximately 68.5km.
Events at time of discovery:
- May 2 – Under terms of the Treaty of London, the United Kingdom voluntarily cedes control of the United States of the Ionian Islands to the Kingdom of Greece.
- May 7 – The clipper ship City of Adelaide is launched in Sunderland, England. By the 21st century, she will be the world’s oldest surviving clipper of only two (Cutty Sark being the other).
- May 9 – American general John Sedgwick is shot dead during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, shortly after uttering the famous last words: “They couldn’t hit an elephant from this distance!”
- May 10 – Birth of Léon Gaumont, French film pioneer
Naming information
Name origin: Sappho (c.630-570 BCE) was an ancient Greek lyric poet and musician from the island of Lesbos. Widely regarded as an outstanding writer, she was called the Tenth Muse; sadly, much of her work, in total estimated at around 10,000 lines, has been lost. Her poetry is still influential today. She has become a byword for lesbian attraction, though she was most likely bisexual.
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| Sappho and Alcaeus (1881), oil painting by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema; housed at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD. |
Astrological data
Discovery degree: 4+ Sagittarius
Discovery Sabian: An Old Owl Sits Alone on the Branch of a Large Tree
Discovery nodal signature: Scorpio–Taurus
Estimated orbital resonances: Venus 3:17, Earth 2:7, Mars 8:13, Ceres 4:3, Jupiter 17:5, Saturn 17:2
Discovery chart details: Noon. Sappho sextile Pholus. Vesta quincunx North Node. Venus trine Juno; Mars sextile and Saturn quincunx Pluto. Pallas conjunct Eris and square Asbolus; Ceres conjunct Sedna. Sun likely conjunct Pluto.
Summary and references
Meanings given so far include: poetic or artistic ability, graceful expression, friendship and attraction[1]; the initial stages of dating prior to the first kiss (involving the formation of trust, time enjoyed together, flirting and physical proximity)[2]; sex and other primal urges[3]; common ground and similarity[4]; deep appreciation of self and others, passion[5]; romantic and artistic sensitivity, variety of affections, “empathy and attraction between persons as being, in a sense, all we’ve got”, the healing power of love, aesthetic refinement and same-sex bonding of all kinds[6]; being outside the mainstream, sexual interest regardless of orientation, fine arts, reproductive drive, spiritual or esoteric practice which might involve sex, free or excess energy, creativity, pleasure[7].
References:
1) Alex Miller: Sappho 80
2) Amable: (80) Sappho
3) Zane Stein: Sappho
4) Martha Lang-Wescott: Basic Resources
5) TAKE Astrology: Asteroids in Astrology
6) Demetra George & Douglas Bloch: Asteroid Goddesses (Ibis Press, 2003)
7) J. Lee Lehman: The Ultimate Asteroid Book (Whitford Press, 1988)
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| Noon discovery chart for (80) Sappho: 2nd May 1865, Madras, India. |