THE DISCOVERY OF MINOR PLANET 1996TL66
© 1996-2001 by Richard Nolle updated
MAY 14, 2001
There's
a bit of a stir going 'round about the discovery of the mini-planet which
was the subject of an article in the June '97 issue of Nature. Here's
its horoscope . . . As yet unnamed, the little body is called 1996TL66
for now. The Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory’s Minor Planet Center cites the first observation
of 1996TL66 as 1996 October 9.56206 UT, which figures out to 13h 29m 22s
UT (1:29:22 PM GMT) on October 9, 1996. This initial sighting was made
by Jane Luu, Dave Jewitt and a couple of Jewitt’s students at the University
of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea Observatory, according to the Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics. A chart calculated for these data - OCT 09,
1996, 01:29:22 PM GMT, 155W40, 20N01 (using coordinates for Kamuela, the
town nearest the Mauna Kea summit) - features a moon-Venus conjunction
rising in Virgo. (1996TL66 was at 3 Taurus when discovered, square Uranus
in this chart; also in a yod to Mercury and Pluto.) My friend and colleague
Zane Stein is paying particular attention to the new little planet - see
his page on this for more. For a monthly 1900-2001 ephemeris of the icy miniplanet, see Zane's 1996 TL66 table. (Note: Unfortunately, the Stein pages are Geocities sites, with annoying pop-up ads.)
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