One of Earth ’s seven quasi - moons has just got a Modern name : Asteroid 2004 GU9 is now know as Cardea , one of the Roman deities of doors and brink with a particular centering on hinges .
Cardea is not a genuine satellite of our major planet like the Moon – it is not gravitationally limit to the Earth , but it moves around the Sun in a fashion that makes it look like it goes around the Earth . It will keep on to do so until well into the 2600s . There was a public call - out for namesuggestions , and a jury of justice selected seven names . More than 10,000 people vote to select this name among the finalists , andCardeawas the winner .
“ Cardea was the R.C. goddess of the hinge . Roman doors attend on pivot hinges . Cardea was one of at least four Roman deities who preside over doorways . The name was take by participant in the 2024 designation competition lean by the WNYC ( New York public radio ) RadioLab program and the IAU , ” the International Astronomical Union write in their latest Working Group Small Body Nomenclaturebulletin .
Earth has seven known quasi - moons . Of those , only one had meet an official name before this yr : Kamoʻoalewa , which is believe to be a former piece of the Moon . Now that Cardea has been officially key out , there might be an sake in naming the other five . Cardea is more than 160 meters ( 524 human foot ) in diameter , never catch closer to Earth than several tens of millions of kilometers .
The other net name from which Cardea was picked were the followers :
Bakunawa – A mythical dragon from Filipino folklore enjoin to develop from the ocean to swallow the Moon .
Ehaema – The Mother Twilight from Estonian Folklore , symbolizing the balance between visible light and dark .
Enkidu – The noble companion of Gilgamesh in the eponymic epic from Sumerian mythology .
Ótr – The shape - shifting midget of Norse mythology who expend his days in the form of an otter navigating the boundary between the human realms and others .
Tarriaksuk – In Inuit legends , these are phantasm beings that mirror human mannikin but dwell in other dimensions .
Tecciztecatl – An Aztec lunar divinity that once aspire to be Sun but a hesitant saltation relegated him to the Moon .
Hopefully , they will be used for other heavenly bodies , because they are absolutely excellent suggestions . The control panel that selected the final seven figure featured astrophysicists such asDr Sofia Rojas , scientific discipline communicators such as Bill Nye and Dr Moiya McTier , and actors such as Tony Award nominee Celia Rose Gooding ( Uhura inStar Trek : Strange New Worlds ) and Penn Badgley .
