Basics
Class: S-type asteroid
Location: Main belt
Orbit length (approx): 4.26 years
Discovered: 24th August 1872, 05:29 UTC, at Litchfield Observatory, Clinton, NY, by Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters
Notes: This asteroid has been observed in four stellar occultation events. Mean radius approx 88.5km.
Events at time of discovery:
- August 10 – Birth of William Manuel Johnson, American jazz double-bassist
- August 13 – Birth of Richard Willstätter, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- August 15 – Birth of Sri Aurobindo, Indian nationalist, writer and mystic
- August 21 – Birth of Aubrey Beardsley, English illustrator
- August 22 – The Australian Overland Telegraph Line is completed, providing a telegraphic link between Australia and the rest of the world for the first time.
Naming information
Name origin: Greek princess of Iolcus.
Mythology: Alkestis’ beauty attracted many suitors; she eventually married King Admetos of Pherae. When he forgot an offering to Artemis, he found the bridal chamber full of coiled snakes and interpreted this as a sign of his early death. Apollo, who had been treated kindly while herding for Admetos, got the Fates drunk and had them promise that someone could die in the king’s place; when the time came, Alkestis was the only one who volunteered. Herakles later returned her from the underworld by defeating Thanatos, in gratitude for Admetos’ hospitality. She was unable to speak for three days upon her restoration, in order to be purified of her debt to the chthonic gods.
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| Admetos and his wife Alkestis receive the oracle saying that one of them will die unless a relative offers themselves to go to Hades instead; Admetos’ parents listen. Ancient Roman fresco (45–79 CE) in the House of the Tragic Poet, Pompeii, Italy. Photo by ArchaiOptix. |
Astrological data
Discovery degree: 4+ Pisces
Discovery Sabian: A Church Bazaar
Discovery nodal signature: Virgo–Aries
Estimated orbital resonances: Venus 1:7, Earth 4:17, Mars 1:2, Ceres 13:12, Jupiter 14:5, Chiron 12:1
Discovery chart details: Disseminating phase chart with Asbolus rising; stellium in Leo; minor grand trine between Pallas, Chiron and Pholus. Mercury was retrograde. Moon trine Venus and sextile Eris; Sun quincunx Sedna and sextile Asbolus. Mercury square Pallas; Venus sesquiquadrate Neptune. Mars-Uranus square Juno; Jupiter quincunx Saturn and semi-square Vesta and Asbolus. Vesta sesquiquadrate Pholus; Asbolus square Sedna; Chariklo square Nessus.
Summary
May indicate the culmination of a work, an ideal form, generosity or piety and their rewards; gathering data or gaining expert knowledge; industry and focus on an aim; strategic or communicative flaws.
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| Discovery chart for (124) Alkeste: 24th August 1872, 05:29 UTC, Clinton, NY. |