Orcus

Orcus, minor planet #90482, is pretty big. With a diameter of 995 miles, it's 1-1/2 times the size of Ixion. It, too, was discovered by a team of astrologers including M. Brown, C. Trujillo and D. Rabinowitz, on February 17, 2004. At that time it was provisionally called 2004 DW. The official announcement to the world occurred November 22, 2004.

It appears to travel an elliptical orbit around the Sun, bringing it as close as 2.7 billion miles from the Sun and sending it as far out as 4.7 billion miles from the Sun.

One Orcus orbit is 247.94 years.

Since it shares a similar size and orbit to that of Pluto, it was decided that it, too must be named after a deity of the underworld. In accordance with IAU rules, the discoverers' suggested name of Orcus was approved and published November 22, 2004.

In Roman mythology, Orcus was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths, more equivalent to Pluto than to the Greek Hades. The origins of Orcus may have lain in Etruscan religion. Orcus was a name used by Roman writers to identify a Gaulish god of the underworld.

In modern day mythology, it is a popular name for providing an instant "demonic" atmosphere. This is in good part because Orcus' name is the origin of the words "orca" and "orc"; the latter popularized by J.R.R. Tolkien in his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The former designates not only the killer whale but also a monster in Ariosto's Orlando furioso.

Orcus also appears as the Lord of Demons in Fred Saberhagen's Empire of the East series (the precursor to his more popular Book of Swords/Book of Lost Swords series), in which magic has replaced technology as the dominant force in the world, and what technology remains has often been transformed into something more than it once was.

In Dungeons & Dragons, Orcus is a demon prince, and lord of the undead. Killed after a string of successful wars with Graz'zt and Demogorgon, he was restored as the undead demon Teneborous by Quah-Nomag the Skull King, one of his most devout followers. Rising against his murderers, Orcus reclaimed his layer of Hell Thanatos and his original name, proclaiming himself 'Prince of the Undead'. In this context, he typically is shown as having the head and legs of a ram, a bloated body, bat-like wings and a long tail.

When Orcus was discovered, it was at 24 Leo 53 R.
The announcement to the world was made when it was at 26 Leo 58.

Sandy Turnbull designed the Orcus symbol that is on the left. She writes, "Derived from a little-used glyph for Pluto to represent the staff of Orcus, Prince of the Underworld.

Here is an ephemeris for 2005-2006, twice monthly, at 0 hrs UT: