Dembowska

Dembowska

[dem′bȯf·skə]

(astronomy)

Possibly the only moderately large asteroid other than Vesta whose surface composition resembles that of achondritic meteorites; has a diameter of about 190 miles (145 kilometers) and a mean distance from the sun of 12.93 astronomical units.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Dembowska

(religion, spiritualism, and occult)

Dembowska, asteroid 349 (the 349th asteroid to be discovered, on December 9, 1892), is approximately 164 kilometers in diameter and has an orbital period of 5 years. It was named after the Italian astronomer Baron Ercole Dembowska, who established observatories at Naples and Milan. The name of this planetoid—which seems to suggest an unusual mythological figure, but which does not appear in any mythological dictionaries—led to its inclusion in The Asteroid Ephemeris: Dudu, Dembowska, Pittsburgh, Frigga, Batya Stark and Mark Pottenger’s tour de force of astrological humor.

Sources:

Kowal, Charles T. Asteroids: Their Nature and Utilization. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Ellis Horwood Limited, 1988.

Room, Adrian. Dictionary of Astronomical Names. London: Routledge, 1988.

Schwartz, Jacob. Asteroid Name Encyclopedia. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1995.

Stark, Batya, and Mark Pottenger. The Asteroid Ephemeris: Dudu, Dembowska, Pittsburgh, Frigga. San Diego: Astro Computing Services, 1982.

The Astrology Book, Second Edition © 2003 Visible Ink Press®. All rights reserved.