Saturn resonance

Minor planets in estimated resonance with Saturn.

Mural of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (2005), by Salvador Almaraz López. Hidalgo is standing centrally, with the right hand outstretched and the left in a fist. Behind him, on his right, emaciated people on the ground are beneath the hooves of a horse driven by a figure in a mask and cowl. To his left is a revolutionary army with banners and weapons upraised. Directly behind Hidalgo is a godlike image of him. Red is prominent. In the foreground, a pair of hands is raised towards Hidalgo as if in supplication.
Aries discovery, Centaurs, Focus On

Focus On: (944) Hidalgo

Name origin: Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811), a Catholic priest, leader of the Mexican War of Independence and recognized as the Father of the Nation. Due to the oppression of poor Mexicans by the Spanish colonisers, on 16th September 1810 he gave the call to arms that triggered the Mexican War of Independence, called the Cry of Dolores.

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Asteroids, Central main belt objects, Focus On, Main belt objects, Taurus discovery

Focus On: (941) Murray

Australian-British professor Gilbert Murray (1866-1957) helped Austria recover from World War I in 1920. He was an outstanding scholar of Ancient Greek literature, language and culture. Involved in the League of Nations from 1916, he was also president of the Ethical Union (now Humanists UK) in 1929 and 1930, and a founder of Oxfam.

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Snapshot of (831) Stateira's orbit and statistics at the approximate moment of discovery, from the JPL Small-Body Database.
Asteroids, Flora family, Focus On, Inner main belt objects, Main belt objects, Pisces discovery

Focus On: (831) Stateira

Stateira was a queen of ancient Persia who died about 400 BCE; wife of Artaxerxes II. She had a son, who became Artaxerxes III. She was a popular ruler, apparently because she talked to ordinary people, but did not get on well with her mother-in-law Parysatis, who eventually poisoned her.

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Simeiz VLBI Station. The 22m radio telescope is located at the foot of Mount Koshka. Photo shows a radio telescope situated on a bay with verdure around it and a rocky hill, ocean and a blue sky with few clouds in the background. The telescope is pointing almost directly upwards.
Asteroids, Focus On, Hilda group, Main belt objects, Outer main belt objects, Virgo discovery

Focus On: (748) Simeïsa

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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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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Othello and Desdemona (c. 1780), from William Blake's Illustrations to Shakespeare. A typical Blake painting in sepia, browns and greys. Othello (left), a young Black man dressed in armour and a cloak with uncovered head, holds Desdemona's hand and one arm surrounds her waist. He gazes at her with a loving expression. Desdemona's other hand rests across her chest, and she returns his gaze with some demureness. She is a young white woman in a simple, pale dress with a loose headdress partially covering golden hair.
Aquarius discovery, Asteroids, Central main belt objects, Focus On, Main belt objects

Focus On: (666) Desdemona

Name origin: Desdemona, character in Shakespeare’s Othello. The name may have been inspired by the asteroid’s provisional designation, containing the letters “DM”. Desdemona is the faithful wife of Othello whose reputation is muddied by the villain Iago.

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Nerthus, illustration by Emil Doepler (1905) depicting the procession of the goddess.
Asteroids, Capricorn discovery, Focus On, Main belt objects, Outer main belt objects

Focus On: (601) Nerthus

Germanic goddess associated with water and wagons. Only priests were allowed to touch the cart of Nerthus, which was kept in a sacred grove on an island. When the priest found her to be present by the cart, it was drawn on procession; everywhere it went celebrations took place.

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Archaeological site of Olympia showing the stadium, the temple of Hera and the temple of Zeus. The Alfeios valley is visible in the background.
Asteroids, Central main belt objects, Focus On, Main belt objects, Virgo discovery

Focus On: (582) Olympia

Olympia, officially Archaia Olympia, was a Panhellenic religious sanctuary in ancient Greece, where the early Olympic Games were held from the 8th century BCE to the 4th century CE, before being restored in 1894. The games were held in the name of Zeus, and drew visitors from the entire Greek world

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