Focus On: (20000) Varuna

Basics

Class: IR-type cubewano, probably a dwarf planet
Location: Kuiper belt
Orbit length (approx): 280.76 years
Discovered: 28th November 2000 at 09:51 UTC, from Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona by Spacewatch (Robert McMillan)
Events at time of discovery:

• November 20 – Alberto Fujimori, President of Peru, faxes his resignation from a hotel room in Japan, having fled Peru after facing corruption charges. Fujimori would be officially removed from office by Congress on the 22nd.
• November 28 – Death of Gregg Barton, 88, American actor
• – Death of Robert Bentley, 93, American animator
• – Death of Liane Haid, 105, Austrian actress

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

Focus On: (1566) Icarus

Basics

Class: S-type/Q-type asteroid
Location: Near Earth, Apollo group
Orbit length (approx): 1.12 years
Discovered: 27th June 1949, 05:44 UTC, from Palomar Observatory, CA, by Walter Baade.
Notes: Icarus has an extremely eccentric orbit (0.83) and measures approximately 1.4 km in diameter. In 1968, it became the first asteroid ever observed by radar. Lowest numbered potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA).
Events at time of discovery:

• June 27 – The 1949 Australian coal strike began.
• – The Liberal Party of Canada led by Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent was easily returned to power in the Canadian federal election.
• – Czechoslovakia banned pastoral letters and meetings of Catholic church officials that were not approved by the government.
• – The science fiction TV series Captain Video and His Video Rangers premiered.
• – Birth of Vera Wang, American fashion designer
• – Birth of Stephen Rucker, television and film composer

Focus On: (17) Thetis

Basics

Class: Sl-type asteroid
Location: Inner main belt
Orbit length (approx): 3.88 years
Discovered: 17th April 1852, 22:10 UTC, from Düsseldorf, Germany, by Robert Luther
Notes: Approximately 90 km in diameter.
Events at time of discovery:

• April 1 – Birth of Edwin Austin Abbey, American painter
• April 13 – Birth of Frank Winfield Woolworth, American merchant, businessman
• May 1 – Birth of Martha "Calamity" Jane Canary, American frontierswoman
• May 4 – Birth of Alice Pleasance Liddell, inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Focus On: (11) Parthenope

Basics

Class: Sk-type asteroid
Location: Main belt
Orbit length (approx): 3.84 years
Discovered: 11th May 1850 (time unknown) by Annibale de Gasparis from Naples, Italy
Notes: Large, bright asteroid.
Events at time of discovery:

• April – Stephen Foster's parlour ballad "Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway" is published in the United States.
• May 10 – Birth of Sir Thomas Lipton, Scottish merchant, yachtsman
• May 12 – Birth of Henry Cabot Lodge, American statesman
• May 23 – The USS Advance puts to sea from New York to search for Franklin's lost expedition in the Arctic.
• May 25 – The hippopotamus Obaysch arrives at London Zoo from Egypt, the first seen in Europe since Roman times.