55 PANDORA IS DISCOVERED BY GEORGE MARY SEARLE

G. M. Searle & 55 Pandora

Today, The Grandma has received the amazing visit of one of her closest friends, Joseph de Ca'th Lon.

Joseph loves Archaeology, Anthropology and Astronomy and he likes talking with The Grandma about them. They have been talking about the asteroid 55 Pandora, discovered by the astronomer George Mary Searle on a day like today in 1858.

Pandora, minor planet designation: 55 Pandora, is a fairly large and very bright asteroid in the asteroid belt.

Pandora was discovered by American astronomer and Catholic priest George Mary Searle on September 10, 1858, from the Dudley Observatory near Albany, NY. It was his first and only asteroid discovery.

It is named after Pandora, the first woman in Greek mythology, who unwisely opened a box that released evil into the world. The name was apparently chosen by Blandina Dudley, widow of the founder of the Dudley Observatory, who had been involved in an acrimonious dispute with astronomer B. A. Gould. Gould felt that the name had an apt significance. The asteroid shares its name with Pandora, a moon of Saturn.

This object is orbiting the Sun with a period of 4.58 years, a semimajor axis of 2.76 AU, and an eccentricity of 0.14. Its orbital plane lies at an angle of 7.2° to the plane of the ecliptic.

Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Rozhen Observatory in Bulgaria during 2010 gave a light curve with a period of 4.7992 hours and a brightness variation of Δm=0.22 mag. This is consistent with a period of 4.804 hours and an amplitude of 0.24 obtained during a 1977 study. It has a cross-sectional size of 66.7 km.

More information: In the Sky

George Mary Searle (June 27, 1839-July 7, 1918) was an American astronomer and Catholic priest.

He discovered the asteroid 55 Pandora in 1858. He also discovered six galaxies. In later life he became a member of the Paulist order and taught at The Catholic University of America.

In 1905, Searle published his idea for a possible reform of the Gregorian Calendar. The plan was to have every new year beginning on Sunday, in order to achieve a perennial calendar. In common years the new calendar would have 52 weeks exactly, or 364 days, with February shortened to 27 days. In leap years, there would be 53 weeks, or 371 days. The extra week would be added as a holiday week, between April and May. Leap years would occur every fifth year, except for years divisible by 50, and except for one other 5th year in 400. The result would be a calendar with 20,871 weeks in 400 years, equal to the Gregorian Calendar.

In 1916, he wrote a book denouncing the Christian Science of Mary Baker Eddy.

More information: 3D Asteroid Catalogue

When you look at the origins and evolution of life on Earth,

it's been severely affected by asteroid impacts through history.

Rusty Schweickart