Main belt objects

Minor planets in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Dig site featuring ruins of the Roman baths at Aguntum.
Asteroids, Focus On, Main belt objects, Outer main belt objects, Virgo discovery

Focus On: (744) Aguntina

Aguntum was an ancient Roman site in what is now East Tirol, Austria (about 4km east of Lienz, the discoverer’s birthplace). The city was likely built as a mining and trading centre due to local supplies of iron, copper, zinc and gold.

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Detail of a panorama of Mandeville, Jamaica, looking north. Photo by Op. Deo.
Asteroids, Central main belt objects, Focus On, Main belt objects, Virgo discovery

Focus On: (739) Mandeville

Mandeville is the capital and largest town in the parish of Manchester in Middlesex, Jamaica. It was laid out in 1816, and named after Viscount Mandeville, the eldest son of the Duke of Manchester, who was then governor of Jamaica.

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Othello and Desdemona (c. 1780), from William Blake's Illustrations to Shakespeare. A typical Blake painting in sepia, browns and greys. Othello (left), a young Black man dressed in armour and a cloak with uncovered head, holds Desdemona's hand and one arm surrounds her waist. He gazes at her with a loving expression. Desdemona's other hand rests across her chest, and she returns his gaze with some demureness. She is a young white woman in a simple, pale dress with a loose headdress partially covering golden hair.
Aquarius discovery, Asteroids, Central main belt objects, Focus On, Main belt objects

Focus On: (666) Desdemona

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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Nerthus, illustration by Emil Doepler (1905) depicting the procession of the goddess.
Asteroids, Capricorn discovery, Focus On, Main belt objects, Outer main belt objects

Focus On: (601) Nerthus

Germanic goddess associated with water and wagons. Only priests were allowed to touch the cart of Nerthus, which was kept in a sacred grove on an island. When the priest found her to be present by the cart, it was drawn on procession; everywhere it went celebrations took place.

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Archaeological site of Olympia showing the stadium, the temple of Hera and the temple of Zeus. The Alfeios valley is visible in the background.
Asteroids, Central main belt objects, Focus On, Main belt objects, Virgo discovery

Focus On: (582) Olympia

Olympia, officially Archaia Olympia, was a Panhellenic religious sanctuary in ancient Greece, where the early Olympic Games were held from the 8th century BCE to the 4th century CE, before being restored in 1894. The games were held in the name of Zeus, and drew visitors from the entire Greek world

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A 1760 copperplate engraving of Nassau Hall, the earliest known. Illustration opposite p. 104 of New American Magazine, No. XXVII (March 1760). Creator unknown. The Princeton motto, Dei Sub Numine Viget (Under God's Power She Flourishes) is depicted as a banner above the building. Below is the text: Aula Nassovica.
Asteroids, Focus On, Koronis family, Libra discovery, Main belt objects, Outer main belt objects

Focus On: (534) Nassovia

Named for Nassau Hall, the oldest building at Princeton University. In 1783, when Princeton became the U.S. provincial capital for four months, Nassau Hall served as its seat of government. Congress met in its library on the second floor. The term Old Nassau refers affectionately to the building and serves as a metonym for the university as a whole.

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Savoy Mountain State Forest in MA, where the discoverer lived as a child.
Central main belt objects, Focus On, Main belt objects, Taurus discovery

Focus On: (519) Sylvania

Name origin: The large forests that the discoverer loved to explore throughout his life; initially as a young boy in Massachusetts; then (once in Germany) around Heidelberg, as well as the Black Forest and the Odenwald. The name is Latin for ‘forest lands’.

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