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Orcus
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Number
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90482
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Provisional name
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2004 DW
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Class
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Plutino
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Discovery date
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17.02.2004
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Discovery chart
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Discovery position
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24° Leo 53' Rx
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Time of announcement
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19.02.2004 - 0:45 UT
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Orbital period
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246.4 years
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Orbit
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Aphelion
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48.051 AU
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Perihelion
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30.323 AU
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Semimajor axis
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39.187 AU
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Magnitude
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2.3
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Diameter
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654 - 2100 km |
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Orcus is known to be a binary system. |
 Digital photo by Eric Francis. Planet Waves Picture Galleries |
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Satellite
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Vanth S/2005 (90482) 1
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Discovery
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13.11.2005
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Time of announcement
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22.02.2007
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Naming
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On March 23, 2009, Mike Brown asked readers of his blog to suggest possible names for the satellite, with the best one to be submitted to the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The name Vanth was suggested by Sonya Taaffe. |
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Mythology
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The origins of Orcus may have lain in Etruscan religion. Orcus was the Roman god of death, the counterpart of the Greek Pluto. Orcus was a punisher of broken oaths. Like the name Hades, "Orcus" could also mean the land of the dead. Orcus J. R. R. Tolkien used the word Orcus for the name of the monstrous orc in his Lord of the Rings trilogy. David Day describes in "A Tolkien Bestiary" that orcs were ugly creatures, who were afraid of light and were comfortable in dirty holes and underworld caves. Vanth is a daimon in Etruscan mythology who guides the dead to the underworld. She often appears on tomb paintings and sarcophagi where she is depicted with wings and a torch, and she is frequently shown in the presence of Charun, a guard of the underworld. |