Focus On: (490) Veritas

Basics

Class: Ch-type asteroid
Location: Main belt
Orbit length (approx): 5.66 years
Discovered: 4th September 1902 at 00:20 UTC, from Heidelberg, Germany, by Max Wolf
Events at time of discovery:

• September 2 – Birth of Peter Pitseolak, Inuit photographer & author
• September 3 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt narrowly escaped death in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, after a streetcar collided with the carriage in which he was riding. Roosevelt's bodyguard, agent William Craig, was killed.
• September 4 – The first completely electric railway line, the Ferrovia della Valtellina, began operations in Italy.
• – The Absaroka National Forest was established in the U.S. state of Montana.
• – Edward Elgar's Opus 43, Dream Children, was played for the first time.
• events
• September 5 – Birth of Darryl F. Zanuck, American film producer and studio executive

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Naming information

Name origin: Veritas is the name given to the Roman virtue of truthfulness and the Goddess of Truth.
Mythology: Truthfulness was considered one of the main virtues any good Roman should possess. The Greek goddess of truth is Aletheia. Veritas is a daughter of Saturn (or in some accounts Jupiter) and the mother of Virtus. She is depicted both as a virgin dressed in white and as the "naked truth" (nuda veritas) holding a hand mirror. She is said to be elusive, hiding at the bottom of a sacred well.

Detail of Truth Rescued by Time, Witnessed by History by Francisco Goya (1814).

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Astrological data

Discovery degree: 29+ Pisces
Discovery Sabian: A Majestic Rock Formation Resembling a Face is Idealized by a Boy Who Takes it as His Ideal of Greatness, and as He Grows Up, Begins to Look Like It
Discovery nodal signature: Virgo-Aries
Estimated orbital resonances: Earth 3:17, Mars 3:8, Ceres 9:11, Jupiter 19:9, Uranus 9:1, Neptune 15:1
Discovery chart details: New lunar phase. Eris on MC, Mercury on IC, Saturn on Desc. Veritas was opposite Mercury and trine Mars. Moon was in a minor T-square with Venus-Asbolus and Neptune; the Sun was semi-square the North Node, and Chariklo trine. Mercury sextile Mars. Jupiter was sextile Sedna and Pallas square Eris.

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Summary and references

Alongside truth itself, Veritas may represent the transformative power of following one's unique soul path; the varieties in our perception of reality and capacity for delusion or clarity; commitment to understanding as a guide towards truth. Mark Andrew Holmes has noted that both Einstein and Darwin had the asteroid natally prominent^[1].

References:
1) Mark Andrew Holmes: Veritas

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Discovery chart for (490) Veritas: 4th September 1902, 00:20 UTC, Heidelberg, Germany.