Cancer node

Minor planets with their North Node in Cancer at discovery.

The Nossob Riverbed, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa; at the heart of the ǀXam lands. Photo shows a grassy plain with a few trees and shrubs, under an early morning or late evening sky, with clouds in varying shades of orange.
Cubewanos, Focus On, Kuiper Belt objects, Leo discovery, Trans-Neptunian objects

Focus On: (469705) ǂKá̦gára

From Wiki: “The names ǂKá̦gára and ǃHãunu are from the mythology of the ǀXam people of South Africa. ǂKá̦gára and his brother-in-law ǃHãunu fought an epic battle in the east using thunder and lightning, producing mountainous clouds and rain. The conflict was fought over ǂKá̦gára’s returning his younger sister, ǃHãunu’s wife, to their parents.”

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Mosaic of Orpheus taming wild animals, 194 CE; found near Edessa, Turkey.
Apollo group, Focus On, Near-Earth objects, Sagittarius discovery

Focus On: (3361) Orpheus

Gifted Thracian bard in Greek legend. The best-known story involves Orpheus venturing into the underworld to try to bring back his wife Eurydike after she died from a snake bite. He lost her again just as they were returning to the upper world, after failing to keep a prohibition on looking back at her on the journey.

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Daedalus, Icarus, Queen Pasiphaë, and two of her attendants in a Roman mosaic from Zeugma, Commagene.
Apollo group, Asteroids, Focus On, Near-Earth objects, Sagittarius discovery

Focus On: (1566) Icarus

Name origin: Cretan mortal, son of the great craftsman Daedalus, who made wings held together with beeswax to help the two of them escape the island. Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea. Overcome by giddiness while flying, Icarus disobeyed his father and came too close to the sun, and the heat melted the beeswax. He fell into the sea and drowned.

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Detail of Yrsa, illustration (1865) by August Malmström.
Asteroids, Focus On, Gemini discovery, Main belt objects

Focus On: (351) Yrsa

Yrsa is the wife of Swedish king Aðils and mother of Danish king Hrólfr Kraki. There are several different versions of her story; in each she is depicted as a charming girl. Her father Halga kidnapped her mother Oluf against her will and got her pregnant. She named the child Yrsa after her dog, and sent her to live as a shepherd until she was 12.

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Statue of the personification of Wisdom (Koinē Greek: Σοφία, Sophía) at the Library of Celsus in Ephesus (second century CE); crop.
Asteroids, Focus On, Libra discovery, Main belt objects

Focus On: (275) Sapientia

Sapientia is Latin for “wisdom”. The corresponding Ancient Greek term (Sophia) variously translates to “clever, skillful, intelligent, wise”; it also implies “skill in handicraft and art” in Homeric usage, which has been applied to both Hephaistos and Athene.

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