Name origin: Desdemona, character in Shakespeare’s Othello. The name may have been inspired by the asteroid’s provisional designation, containing the letters “DM”. Desdemona is the faithful wife of Othello whose reputation is muddied by the villain Iago.
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Name origin: A region in north-east Italy named Veneto or the Venetia, which has Venice as its capital. Residents mostly speak Venetian as well as Italian, and there is a notable Venetian independence movement (Venetism).
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Name origin: Greek god of love. In the earliest account, Eros is a primordial god, while later he is described as one of the children of Aphrodite and Ares and, with some of his siblings, was one of the Erotes, a group of winged love gods.
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Name origin: Trojan prophet in Greek myth. Apollo tried to seduce Kassandra with the gift of prophecy; when he failed (or in some versions she accepted and then changed her mind), unable to rescind her ability, he added the curse that she would never be believed.
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Name origin: Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy.
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Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), a German polymath whose work pioneered or foreshadowed biogeography, modern geomagnetic and meteorological monitoring, ecology and holistic views of the universe. He also helped establish geography as an independent scientific discipline.
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Name origin: Greek goddess of the hearth (both private and municipal) and the home. Hestia presides over the cooking of bread and the preparation of the family meal. She was also the goddess of the sacrificial flame and received a share of every sacrifice to the gods.
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Name origin: Greek Muse of astronomy and astronomical writings. Ourania was often depicted pointing at a celestial globe with a rod. The astrological symbol represents compass calipers.
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