Mercury resonance

Minor planets in estimated resonance with Mercury.

Asteroids, Aten group, Focus On, Leo discovery, Near-Earth objects

Focus On: (99942) Apophis

Name origin: Ancient Egyptian personification of chaos, also known as Apep or Apepi, and the opponent of Ra (light) and Ma’at (order/truth). Appears in art as a giant serpent. He is supposed to lie below the horizon and not remain in the mortal kingdom, thus consigning him to the underworld.

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Detail of a studio portrait photograph of Venetia Burney, aged 11, around the time she named Pluto (crop).
Aries discovery, Asteroids, Focus On, Inner main belt objects, Main belt objects

Focus On: (6235) Burney

Name origin: Venetia Phair (née Burney), who at age 11 was the first to suggest the name Pluto when said planet was discovered. She studied mathematics and became an accountant, and later a teacher.

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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 a panorama of Mandeville, Jamaica, looking north. Photo by Op. Deo.
Asteroids, Central main belt objects, Focus On, Main belt objects, Virgo discovery

Focus On: (739) Mandeville

Mandeville is the capital and largest town in the parish of Manchester in Middlesex, Jamaica. It was laid out in 1816, and named after Viscount Mandeville, the eldest son of the Duke of Manchester, who was then governor of Jamaica.

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Asteroids, Cancer discovery, Focus On, Main belt objects, Outer main belt objects

Focus On: (658) Asteria

Name origin: Titan goddess of falling stars, dream divination and astrology. Asteria was the mother of Hekate, goddess of witchcraft and magic, by Perses. After the fall of the Titans, Zeus (being Zeus) chased Asteria across the sky but she escaped him by transforming herself into a quail and then leaping into the sea to become the wandering island of Delos.

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Asteroids, Central main belt objects, Focus On, Hansa family, Main belt objects, Sagittarius discovery

Focus On: (480) Hansa

Name origin: The Hanseatic League, a northern continental European commercial and defensive confederation of cities. The word ‘hansa’ or ‘hanse’ means ‘convoy’ in Old German, and refers to the merchants travelling between points in the League. While the area was not generally independent, it was influential and had diplomatic privileges. Some of the Gothic architecture remains.

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