Focus On: (136108) Haumea

Basics

Class: BB-type dwarf planet/plutoid
Location: Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO)
Orbit length (approx): 281.07 years
Discovered: 7th March 2003, 00:40 UTC, from Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain
Notes: Third-largest known trans-Neptunian object, after Eris and Pluto.
Events at time of discovery:

• March 7 – Death of José Márcio Ayres, 49, Brazilian conservationist and zoologist, founded Brazilian rain forest reserves
• – Death of Manfred Durniok, 68, German film producer, director and screenwriter
• – Death of Monica Hughes, 77, Canadian SF author
• March 8 – Malta approves joining the European Union in a referendum.

Focus On: (38083) Rhadamanthus

Basics

Class: TNO
Location: Kuiper belt
Orbit length (approx): 241.61 years
Discovered: 17th April 1999, 03:19 UTC, from National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Arizona, by the Deep Ecliptic Survey.
Notes: Was originally thought to be a plutino but it turns out this is not the case.
Events at time of discovery:

• April 14 – Kosovo War: NATO warplanes repeatedly bomb ethnic Albanian refugee convoys for 2 hours over a 12-mile stretch of road, after mistaking them for Yugoslav military trucks, between Đakovica and Dečani in western Kosovo, killing at least 73 refugees.
• April 17 – Death of Julian Cole, 74, American mathematician
• – Death of Ahmad bin Mohamed Ibrahim, 82, Singaporean lawyer and law professor
• April 20 – Columbine High School massacre.

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

Focus On: (10) Hygiea

Basics

Class: C-type asteroid
Location: Main belt
Orbit length (approx): 5.56 years
Discovered: 12th April 1849 (time unknown) from Naples, Italy, by Annibale de Gasparis
Events at time of discovery:

• 1849 – Global healthcare and pharmaceutical company Pfizer was founded in New York.
• January 23 – Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York, thus becoming the United States' first woman doctor.
• July 23 – The French scientist Hippolyte Fizeau measures the speed of light, with an instrument placed on the Earth.
• September 17 – Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery.