Basics
Class: Cubewano
Location: Kuiper belt
Orbit length (approx): 292.80 years
Discovered: 26th June 2014, 08:51 UTC, from Hubble Space Telescope and Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, by Marc W. Buie and the New Horizons Search Team
Notes: Arrokoth is a contact binary 36 km long, composed of two planetesimals 21 and 15 km across, that are joined along their major axes. With an orbital period of about 298 years and a low orbital inclination and eccentricity, Arrokoth is classified as a cold classical Kuiper belt object. Originally named Ultima Thule until criticism was drawn by that designation’s relationship to white supremacist ideology and co-option by Nazis.
Events at time of discovery:
- June 26 – 2014 Northern Iraq offensive: Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki confirms that the Syrian Air Force bombed Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant positions in Iraq earlier in the week.
- – The Catholic Synod of Bishops releases the instrumentum laboris, or working document, for the upcoming 3rd extraordinary general assembly, taking place from October 5 to 19.
- – Jung Hong-won will stay on as the Prime Minister of South Korea despite resigning after the sinking of the MV Sewol as two nominations as replacements have fallen through.
- – Germany starts easing immigration restrictions on Ukrainian Jews as a result of the crisis in Ukraine.
- – Death of Barry Cole, 77, British poet
- – Death of Wolf Koenig, 86, German-born Canadian filmmaker
- – Death of Mary Rodgers, 83, American composer and children’s author
- – Death of Julius Rudel, 93, Austrian-born American Grammy Award-winning conductor and director
- – Death of Vins, 70, Indian cartoonist
Naming information
Name origin: Arrokoth was chosen by the New Horizons team to represent the Powhatan people indigenous to the Tidewater region of Virginia and Maryland in the eastern United States, and formally announced with the permission of the Powhatan nation’s Pamunkey Indian Tribe elders. In an old Powhatan language word list, arrokoth is glossed as ‘sky’, and this was the meaning intended by the New Horizons team, but it would seem that it actually meant ‘cloud’. Per Wiki: “The only record of the word was collected in 1610–1611 by English writer William Strachey, who had a decent ear but bad handwriting, and scholars since have had considerable difficulty reading his notes. The meanings of the words are also often uncertain, as Strachey and the Powhatan had no language in common. Siebert (1975: p. 324) used comparison with other Algonquian languages to interpret Strachey’s handwriting, and deciphers two relevant transcriptions as arrokoth ‘sky’ and arrahgwotuwss ‘clouds’. He reconstructs these as the word /aːrahkwat/ ‘cloud’ and its plural /aːrahkwatas/ ‘clouds’ (compare Ojibwa /aːnakkwat/ ‘cloud’), from the Proto-Algonquian *aːlaxkwatwi ‘it is a cloud, it is cloudy’.”
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| Composite image of Arrokoth, compiled from data obtained by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft as it flew by the object on Jan. 1, 2019. The image combines enhanced colour data (close to what the human eye would see) with detailed high-resolution panchromatic pictures. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Roman Tkachenko. |
Astrological data
Discovery degree: 10+ Capricorn
Discovery Sabian: A Large Group of Pheasant on a Private Estate
Discovery nodal signature: Virgo–Pisces
Estimated orbital resonances: Saturn 1:10, Uranus 2:7, Neptune 9:16, Pluto 11:13, Eris 19:10
Discovery chart details: Balsamic phase chart with Saturn descending and Jupiter on IC. Stellium in Gemini including Mercury retrograde. Moon opposite Chariklo, sextile Eris and semi-sextile Sedna; Sun semi-sextile Juno. Mercury trine and Jupiter square the North Node. Mars semi-sextile Saturn; opposite Uranus and sesquiquadrate Nessus; Jupiter sextile Sedna. Uranus semi-square Nessus; Neptune semi-square Eris and square Asbolus. Ceres-Vesta sesquiquadrate Juno. Chariklo trine Eris.
Summary and references
Interpretations given so far include: search processes culminating in laborious review and analysis[1]; interest in the sky, astronomy, astrology, space exploration, astounding phenomena, lack of limits or accountability[2]; the inspiration of the sky and stars, and of looking to them; a guiding light for all scholars of the sky[3]; consideration, compassion, art and the process of creation, reverence, curiosity, a grasp of complexity, transcendence, rationalisation, criticism, wandering or wayward, love of animals[4]; drive to gain love and respect by means of attaining success or greatness, lack of self-confidence, defensive brashness, glamour and charisma possibly alongside shyness, rebellion or fighting for justice, exposing lies, acceptance of fate and limitations[5].
References:
1) Amable: Arrokoth
2) Mark Andrew Holmes: Arrokoth
3) Kirsti Melto: New Moon in Capricorn – Jan. 11, 2024
4) Philip Sedgwick: New Dwarf Planets, Eris, Sedna, Centaurs & More
5) Benjamin Adamah: Cubewanos, Haumeids & Other TNOs (VAMzzz Publishing, 2023)
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| Discovery chart for (486958) Arrokoth: 26th June 2014, 08:51 UTC, Boulder, CO. The object is not depicted. |