(20050) Aglaonice Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 21 March 1993 by UESAC at La Silla.
Aglaonice of Thessaly (2nd or 1st century BCE) is one the earliest recorded women astronomers. She was regarded as a sorceress for her (self-proclaimed) ability to “make the moon disappear from the sky”, which has been taken by Plutarch and modern astronomers to mean that she could predict the time and general area where a lunar eclipse would occur.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 4, #11, 17), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Aglaonice is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Aglaonice is 2.63 au from the Sun and 1.94 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 20050 |
| Provisional designation | 1993 FO21 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 6.09 km (#8,784 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0630 |
| Rotation period | 184 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.77 |
| Orbital period | 4.51 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.73 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.58 – 2.88 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0553 |
| Inclination | 4.92° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.58 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also discovered on 21 March 1993
- (5630) Billschaefer
- (6102) Visby
- (6528) Boden
- (6796) Sundsvall
- (6797) Ostersund
- (7595) Vaxjo
- (7831) Francois-Xavier
- (8535) Pellesvanslos
- (8536) Mans
- (8537) Billochbull
- (8538) Gammelmaja
- (8697) Olofsson