The “Speed of Light” gets an asteroid named after it
The speed of light is represented in some rather famous mathematical equations as “c.” I’ve never given it much thought until I saw an entry in one of the bulletins of the IAU’s Working Group on Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN). C is the initial letter of the Latin word “celeritas,” which means “swiftness,” “speed” or “celerity.” Now we have asteroid (299792) Celeritas.
Asteroid Citation
(299792) Celeritas = 2006 SY93
Discovery: 2006-09-18 / Spacewatch / Kitt Peak / 691
The speed of light in a vacuum, commonly denoted c, is a universal physical constant that is equal to 299,792,458 meters per second. The word “celeritas” means “speed” in Latin.
Orbit of Asteroid (299792) Celeritas
(299792) Celeritas is a main-belt asteroid with a period of 5.09 years, and an inclination of 1.83 degrees.
JPL Small Body Database: https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=Espresso
IAU Bulletin: https://www.wgsbn-iau.org/files/Bulletins/V004/WGSBNBull_V004_015.pdf
About the Asteroid Discoverers
The Spacewatch Project is an astronomical survey that specializes in the study of minor planets, including various types of asteroids and comets at University of Arizona telescopes on Kitt Peak near Tucson, Arizona. The Spacewatch Project has been active longer than any other similar currently active programs. – Wikipedia
The speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 meters per second (approximately 300,000 kilometers per second, or 186,282.42 miles per second – a number I memorized as a teen.
