Focus On: (4580) Child

Basics

Class: Asteroid
Location: Main belt
Orbit length (approx): 4.28 years
Discovered: 4th March 1989, 11:50 UTC, from Palomar Observatory, California, by Eleanor Francis Helin
Events at time of discovery:

• March 4 – Time Inc. and Warner Communications announce plans for a merger, forming Time Warner.
• – The Purley station rail crash in London leaves five people dead and 94 injured.
• – The first Australian Capital Territory elections are held.
• – Death of Tiny Grimes, 72, American jazz and R&B guitarist
• – Death of Viktor Nikiforov, 57, Soviet ice hockey player and Olympic gold medalist
• – Death of Edward Makuka Nkoloso, 69–70, member of Zambian resistance movement, created space programme

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Naming information

Name origin: Jack B. Child (b. 1951), software engineer at JPL and Asteroid Project director of the World Space Foundation; honoured for his "generous helpfulness" and for introducing team members to the Palomar project.

Detail of Playing Children, by Song dynasty artist Su Hanchen, c. 1150 CE. Distributed as part of The Yorck Project (2002).

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Astrological data

Discovery degree: 23+ Libra
Discovery Sabian: A Butterfly With a Third Wing on its Left Side
Discovery nodal signature: Virgo-Pisces
Estimated orbital resonances: Venus 1:7, Earth 4:17, Mars 1:2, Ceres 13:12, Jupiter 11:4
Discovery chart details: Balsamic phase, close to the semi-square. Child was sextile Vesta, and sesquiquadrate Pallas and Pholus. Moon trine Jupiter, Mercury semi-square Uranus, Juno square Jupiter, Saturn conjunct Neptune. Uranus was sextile the North Node. Ceres-Eris in very close sextile with Chariklo.

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Summary and references

Themes given so far include: open, welcoming attitudes and behaviours towards relative strangers^[1]; the inner child (and understanding them as an adult), the early home, roots and other fourth house themes^[2]; unique childhood experiences, attitudes towards children^[3]; immature, naive or innocent reactions^[4]. The discovery Sabian additionally suggests evolution and development.

References:
1) Amable: (4580) Child
2) Neptune's Aura Astrology: Asteroid Child 4580
3) Martha Lang-Wescott: Basic Resources
4) TAKE Astrology: Asteroids in Astrology

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Discovery chart for (4580) Child: 4th March 1989, 11:50 UTC, Palomar Observatory, California.