Two asteroids to start us off today, discovered by the same guy on the same day, two years apart. I like people who stick to a routine.
1853 – Asteroid 25 Phocaea was discovered by Jean Chacornac. Phocaea is the Greek version of the Turkish town Foça, home of the Turkish Navy’s equivalent of the SAS.
1855 – Asteroid 34 Circe discovered, also by Jean Chacornac. Circe is a more typical asteroid name than Phocaea, coming as it does from Greek mythology. Circe is a minor goddess, known for killing her husband and being banished to the island of Aeaea, the land that consonants forgot.
Chacornac discovered six asteroids and a comet, which was enough to eventually get him his own asteroid (1622 Chacornac), and I suspect that his theory of crater formation may have had a bearing on a crater on the Moon being named after him. It’s just southeast of Posidonius.
1878 – Asteroid 186 Celuta was discovered jointly by Paul and Prosper Henry (this one is credited to Prosper), and named for a fictional character in works by the French writer Chateaubriand. It is an S-type asteroid of approximately 50 km in diameter.
1891 – Main belt asteroid 309 Fraternitas discovered by Johann Palisa.
1965 – Communications satellite Intelsat 1 (“Early Bird“), built by the Hughes Aircraft Corporation, was launched from Cape Canaveral.