Basics
Class: X-type asteroid
Location: Main belt
Orbit length (approx): 5.33 years
Discovered: 23rd February 1895, 21:43 UTC, by Max Wolf at Heidelberg
Some notable events around time of discovery:
- February 6 – Birth of Babe Ruth, American baseball player
- February 14 – Birth of Max Horkheimer, German philosopher, sociologist
- February 21 – Birth of Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist, Nobel Prize recipient
- February 25 – The first rebellions of the Cuban War of Independence break out.
Naming information
Name origin: Ancient Greek goddess of the underworld.
Mythology: Persephone as a vegetation goddess and her mother Demeter were the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries, which promised the initiated a happy afterlife. The origins of her cult are uncertain, but it may have been based on ancient agrarian rituals. Most of Persephone's myths centre around her abduction by Hades and her transition from a maiden spring deity to queen of the underworld. (Theoi page)
 |
| Detail of Kore (Persephone) statue photographed in 2006 at the Acropolis Museum, Athens, by Ricardo André Frantz. |
Astrological data
Discovery degree: 12+ Virgo
Discovery Sabian: A Powerful Statesman Over-Comes A State Of Political Hysteria
Discovery nodal signature: Pisces-Virgo
Estimated orbital resonances: Earth 3:16, Mars 2:5, Ceres 6:7, Jupiter 20:9, Saturn 11:2, Chiron 19:2
Discovery chart details: Balsamic lunar phase with the Aquarius Moon square Mars and trine Jupiter. Mercury is retrograde and close to conjunction with the Sun. Uranus is stationary retrograde. Persephone is closely square Neptune.
Summary and references
(399) Persephone potentially represents separation, separation anxiety, forced changes, critical life passages[1]; one's attitude towards leaving behind home, relations or familiar conditions, or how one handles transitions[2]. In addition, astronomer Michael Brown apparently considered Persephone as a possible name for the dwarf planet which eventually became known as Eris, perhaps implying a link between the two[3].
References:1) Alex Miller: Persephone 399
2) Martha Lang-Wescott: Basic Resources
3) Kirsti Melto: New Moon in Aries – April 12, 2021
 |
| Discovery chart for (399) Persephone: 23rd February 1895, 21:43 UTC, Heidelberg, Germany. |
No comments:
Post a Comment