Discovery and Naming
Sylvia was discovered by N. R. Pogson on May 16, 1866 from Madras (Chennai), India. A. Paluzie-Borrell, writing in Paul Erget's The Names of the Minor Planets (1955), mistakenly states that the name honours Sylvie Petiaux-Hugo Flammarion, the first wife of astronomer Camille Flammarion. In fact, in the article announcing the discovery of the asteroid, Pogson explained that he selected the name in reference to Rhea Silvia, mother of Romulus and Remus (MNRAS, 1866).
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Famous quotes containing the words discovery and/or naming:
“Next to the striking of fire and the discovery of the wheel, the greatest triumph of what we call civilization was the domestication of the human male.”
—Max Lerner (b. 1902)
“The night is itself sleep
And what goes on in it, the naming of the wind,
Our notes to each other, always repeated, always the same.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)