So last week the Minor Planet Center (MPC) posted the name of the “centaur” Clete on their website. Discovered on 8 October 2005 and given the minor planet designation 385695, this body now bears the name of an attendant to the Amazon queen, Penthesilea, who accidentally killed her sister during a hunt and decided to fight in the Trojan War against the Greeks as a means to address her grief. Twelve Amazon warriors followed Penthesilea and joined forces with her in Troy.
Clete intended to join Penthesilea at Troy, but was blown off course and founded a city in Italy instead. Her name means "the Invoked"or “called forth.” In urban dictionary lore she is described as an old soul. Another version has Clete, per the will of the queen, sailing to Italy to found the city of Clete.
Clete maintains a 164.77 year orbit with a north node (helio) at 19 Virgo 24 and comes closest to the Sun at 26 Cancer 14. As of 21 July, Clete transits 9 Taurus 32.
Currently through the vehicle of Taurus, she seeks to create order and method in all things domestic and to create distribution/application for those things that further, foster and nurture.
And a day or so after posting the name of Clete, the MPC posted the name Otrera for the minor planet body 385571.
Clete’s naming supposedly follows the scheme already established with 385571, Otrera, which is to name Neptune Trojans to Amazons. A Trojan is an object that shares the orbital path or a larger body, typically leading or following the main object by sixty degrees. Trojans are not satellite (moon) bodies to the larger planet. As should be the case with Neptune, naming and criterion gets a little blurry.
The JPL Small-Body Database Browser defines both Otrera and Clete as “centaurs.” Centaurs came about with the discovery of Chiron and their initial definition by astronomical parameters has evolved over the recent years with the plethora of discoveries in the outer solar system. No reference is made to either object being a Neptune Trojan, though both are named per Amazon lore - the Neptune Trojan naming convention. Curiously, Clete shows up on the MPC’s centaur list; Otrera shows up on the Trans-Neptunian Object list. It is worth noting that the orbital period of both objects is within the margin of error or Neptune’s orbit, confirming the Neptune Trojan trajectory and their Neptunian Trojan status.
Otrera was the first Amazon queen. According to one source “When the patriarchy of the Sky Gods came along, Otrera became the mother, with Ares, of the Amazon Nation. Otrera also became the daughter of Ares and the mother of the Amazon queen Penthesilea (and presumably mother to Hippolyta, Antiope, Lysippe, and Melanippe).”
Otrera’s orbit ranges 164.86 years with a node of 4 Taurus 46, perihelion of 28 Aries 42. As of today’s post she weighs in at 10 Taurus 06.
Given she and Clete are Trojans of Neptune and with the same orbital period, they will remain in virtual conjunction for pretty much all time, leading Neptune by some sixty degrees from their Lagrangian points.
What’s interesting is that a transit from one is a transit from the other at the same time - a double dip of Amazon influence. And no, that does not justify a second order online following the first order when the recommendations made by Amazon to go with your just submitted order are irresistible. Yes, the goddesses transit Taurus, but the ordering and expenditure is on you.
Anyway, Otrera seeks to emphasis the value of self, certainty of ones positions in the material world, the worth of services that one can provide. She is a self-affirming what I bring to the table is great and you better believe it and “take it to the bank” kind of woman.
Both Amazons together seek to stake out a claim for feminine archetypes in the real world. The issues of “choice,” income parity for women and the role of women as corporate and political leaders all receive support from these newcomers. Given these objects are now in our conscious attention, will the next Democratic Party political debate reflect greater attention to these issues? Here’s a chance to see how fast the collective integrates naming of solar system bodies.
Stand by, more Amazons could conceivably follow.
I do not yet have the raw data to do my computations, but I suspect it will arrive soon. More to come.