Focus On: (3361) Orpheus

Basics

Class: Asteroid
Location: Near Earth, Apollo group
Orbit length (approx): 1.33 years
Discovered: 24th April 1982, 07:12 UTC, from Cerro El Roble Astronomical Station, Chile, by Carlos Torres
Events at time of discovery:

• April 24 – German singer Nicole wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 (held in Britain) with the song Ein Bisschen Frieden.
• – Death of Ville Ritola, Finnish Olympic athlete
• – Birth of Kelly Clarkson, American singer-songwriter, talk show host
• – Birth of David Oliver, American hurdler

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Naming information

Name origin: Gifted Thracian bard in Greek legend
Mythology: 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.

Mosaic of Orpheus taming wild animals, 194 CE; found near Edessa, Turkey.

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Astrological data

Discovery degree: 8+ Sagittarius
Discovery Sabian: A Mother Leads Her Small Child Step By Step Up A Steep Stairway
Discovery nodal signature: Cancer-Aries
Estimated orbital resonances: Mercury 2:11, Venus 6:13, Earth 3:4, Mars 8:5
Discovery chart details: New phase chart not long after the Taurus New Moon. Moon was trine Juno; Sun exactly quincunx Uranus and closely semi-square Venus; Mercury sesquiquadrate Mars; Juno square Pholus; Nessus square Pluto. Eris was square the Nodes. Vesta was semi-square Neptune. Many of these aspects are almost exact. Sedna was at the Sun-Moon midpoint, again pretty much on the nose.

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Summary and references

May represent musical or prophetic aptitude, persuasiveness, grief^[1]; sad or sweet music^[2]; the melody of the soul^[3]; gradual or incomplete relationships, or those requiring decision and work^[4].

References:
1) Alex Miller: Orpheus 3361
2) Martha Lang-Wescott: Basic Resources
3) Kirsti Melto: Full Moon in Cancer – January 11, 2009
4) Amable: (3361) Orpheus

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Discovery chart for (3361) Orpheus: 24th April 1982, 07:12 UTC, Cerro El Roble Astronomical Station, Chile.