Asteroids

Minor planets in the asteroid class.

Detail of statue of Klytaemnestra from the early to mid 19th century, in Wrest Park, Bedfordshire, U.K. Artist unknown.
Asteroids, Focus On, Gemini discovery, Main belt objects, Outer main belt objects, Telramund family

Focus On: (179) Klytaemnestra

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Name origin: Greek princess, daughter of Leda and Tyndareus, half-sister of Helen. Helen married Menelaos of Sparta, and Klytaemnestra married his brother Agamemnon; both became involved in the ten-year Trojan War. After Agamemnon sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia on the orders of a priest, Klytaemnestra vowed revenge and took his cousin Aegisthus as a lover. When he returned, the pair murdered him and his slave Kassandra. Eventually they were both killed in retaliation by Klytaemnestra’s son Orestes.

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Mercury and Jupiter in the House of Philemon and Baucis (1650) by Jacob van Oost. Here Baukis is chasing the household goose to provide a special meal for her visitors; Hermes, seated to the left, reaches out to forestall her as Zeus sits thoughtfully beside him.
Asteroids, Focus On, Main belt objects, Virgo discovery

Focus On: (172) Baucis

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Baukis and Philemon were a poor elderly couple who were blessed by Zeus and Hermes after showing them hospitality while disguised as peasants. Richer folk in the town had turned the gods away. In consequence, Zeus flooded the rest of the town and turned the simple cottage into an ornate temple.

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Filippino Lippi (1457-1504): Five Sibyls Seated in Niches: the Samian, Cumean, Hellespontic, Phrygian and Tiburtine, c. 1465-1470.
Aries discovery, Asteroids, Cybele group objects, Focus On, Main belt objects, Outer main belt objects

Focus On: (168) Sibylla

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Named after the Sibyls, oracles in ancient Greece. Originally there may have been just one Sibyl at a time, but the number eventually increased to nine or ten. Bases included Delphi, Samos, Delos and Clarus. The etymology of the term’s source is unknown.

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1650 etching in colour displaying a view of Toulouse from the west and noting its status as capital of the former French province Languedoc.
Asteroids, Focus On, Inner main belt objects, Main belt objects, Sagittarius discovery

Focus On: (138) Tolosa

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Name origin: Toulouse in France, where the asteroid was discovered. Schmadel says the city was celebrated for the cultivation of the sciences; it is home to one of the oldest universities in Europe (founded in 1229) and several prestigious higher education schools, most notably in aerospace engineering.

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Detail of mosaic featuring Cyrene from the 2nd century CE, at the Lambaesis archaeological site, Algeria.
Asteroids, Focus On, Hecuba gap objects, Main belt objects, Outer main belt objects, Pisces discovery

Focus On: (133) Cyrene

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Name origin: Thessalian princess in Greek myth. Kyrene was the daughter of King Hypseus of the Lapiths. She was a famed huntress who guarded her father’s herds on Mount Pelion, killing predators. One day, when she was wrestling a lion, the god Apollo saw her and at once fell in love. He carried her to the Hill of Myrtles (Myrtoessa) in Libya, where she bore him a son named Aristaios.

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Orestes, Elektra and Hermes at the tomb of Agamemnon. Lucanian red-figure pelike dated c. 380-370 BCE, by the Choephoroi Painter.
Asteroids, Focus On, Leo discovery, Main belt objects, Outer main belt objects

Focus On: (130) Elektra

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Name origin: Greek mythical daughter of Agamemnon and Klytaemnestra. After their mother murders their father, Elektra and her brother Orestes plot to kill Klytaemnestra and her lover Aegisthus in revenge, on the orders of the Delphic Oracle.

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