Topical Tens: 1st September: The Asteroid Juno

Friday, 1 September 2017

On the anniversary of its discovery, here are ten facts about the asteroid Juno.

The asteroid Juno was discovered on 1 September 1804 by a German astronomer called Karl Ludwig Harding.
It was the third Asteroid to be discovered.
It is the 11th biggest asteroid, accounting for 1% of the mass of the asteroid belt. It is, however, only 3% of the size of Ceres.
Like Pluto, Juno was initially considered to be a planet, but was downgraded to asteroid in the 1850s. It is too small and irregular in shape to be classified as a dwarf planet.
It is named for Juno, the queen of the Roman gods and wife of Jupiter.
Notation for Juno is either a number three inside a circle, or an old symbol which resembles a star on a stick or a Spider doing a handstand! (Neither appears in my computer's special symbol menu).
It takes roughly 4.4 years to orbit the Sun, and has one of the most eccentric orbits of any asteroid.
Infrared photography has shown that Juno has a crater on its surface.
It was the first asteroid to be observed passing in front of a dim star (occultation).
In Astrology, Juno rules over commitment in relationships, marriage, true love and soul mates. Also falling under her influence are diplomacy, fashion, beauty, flowers, the weather and women's rights. On the darker side, she rules marital abuse, powerlessness and inferiority, rage, bitterness, denial and betrayal.