Name origin: Roman Goddess of salt water and wife of Neptune. Salacia was the personification of the calm and sunlit aspect of the sea (although she may also have represented the gushing and overbearing waters). Name means “the salty one”.
Focus On: (120347) Salacia Read Post »
Name origin: Famous Greek hero and demigod who became immortal. Performed the 12 labours for King Eurystheus of Mycenae, and had a number of other adventures. His name means ‘glory (or fame) of Hera’. On his ascension, he married Hebe.
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Name origin: Simeïs Observatory and the town of Simeïs, Crimea, Ukraine, where the object was first discovered. A total of 150 minor planets were found at the observatory, which operated as a research site until the mid-1950s and is now used for studying satellite orbits.
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Name origin: Greek Naiad at Delphi who, to flee Apollo’s pursuit, threw (or transformed) herself into the sacred springs now bearing her name. The water from the springs bestowed the gifts of prophecy and poetry.
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Latona is the Roman name for Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis by Zeus, who was forced to flee Hera’s wrath to give birth in safety. There is no evidence of an independent mythology.
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Name origin: Greek god of love. In the earliest account, Eros is a primordial god, while later he is described as one of the children of Aphrodite and Ares and, with some of his siblings, was one of the Erotes, a group of winged love gods.
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Name origin: The branch of mathematics (lit. ‘measuring the Earth’), which has greatly expanded since the late 19th century after the discovery of non-Euclidean geometries and the growth of symmetry as a concept.
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Name origin: Thessalian princess in Greek myth, loved by the god Apollo. During her pregnancy, Koronis had an affair with a man named Iskhys; a raven informed Apollo of this, and either he or his sister Artemis killed her as a consequence. Later he felt remorse, and in anger against the raven turned its white feathers black.
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Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), a German polymath whose work pioneered or foreshadowed biogeography, modern geomagnetic and meteorological monitoring, ecology and holistic views of the universe. He also helped establish geography as an independent scientific discipline.
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Name origin: Aetolian princess who became a Spartan queen; mother of the Dioscuri, Clytaemnestra and Helen, after Zeus seduced her in the guise of a swan.
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