Basics
Class: S/L-type asteroid
Location: Main belt
Orbit length (approx): 3.67 years
Discovered: 5th February 1877 (time unknown), from Marseille, France, by Alphonse Borrelly
Notes: Surface appears to contain a mix of light and dark material. Mean radius approx 31 km.
Events at time of discovery:
- February 7 – Birth of G. H. Hardy, British mathematician
- February 14 – Birth of Edmund Landau, German mathematician
- March 4 – Emile Berliner patents the microphone in the United States.
- – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake debuts in Moscow.
Naming information
Name origin: Greek.
Mythology: 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. The couple’s wish to be guardians of the temple was granted, as was their wish to die together. On that day, they were changed into an intertwining pair of trees, an oak and a linden.
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| Mercury and Jupiter in the House of Philemon and Baucis (1650) by Jacob van Oost. |
Astrological data
Discovery degree: 7+ Virgo (88% approx probability)
Discovery Sabian: A Five-Year-Old Child Takes a First Dancing Lesson
Discovery nodal signature: Aquarius–Virgo
Estimated orbital resonances: Venus 1:6, Earth 3:11, Mars 7:12, Ceres 5:4, Jupiter 13:4, Saturn 8:1
Discovery chart details: Noon. Baucis was opposite Saturn, trine Pallas and sextile Asbolus. Finger of the World between Uranus, stationary Pluto and Pallas. Minor T-square between retrograde Mercury, Mars and Eris. Chiron semi-square and Juno square the North Node. Venus semi-square Juno; Mars square Chariklo; Jupiter-Nessus trine Chiron and semi-sextile Vesta. Pallas sextile Saturn and semi-square Pholus.
Summary and references
Mark Andrew Holmes associates Baucis with “generosity, hospitality, or devotion”[1]. I’d add maturity, prudence, parental care, standing apart, and possibly carving out one’s own fate.
References:
1) Mark Andrew Holmes: Baucis
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| Noon discovery chart for (172) Baucis: 5th February 1877, Marseille, France. |