Every so often, an entry in the monthly bulletin from the IAU’s Working Group on Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN) makes my eyebrows do the Spock-thing. These bulletins are the where newly named asteroids are listed, and the latest one had an entry for Espresso! Usually, I look for keywords like: Jesuit, priest, and Vatican; while not any of these, Espresso is one of the drinks that Vatican Observatory staff enjoys during their 10:00 AM coffee break in Rome!
Asteroid Citation
(335500) Espresso = 2005 YQ29
Discovery: 2005-10-25 / Mount Lemmon Survey / Mount Lemmon / G96
Originating in Italy, espresso is a full-flavored, concentrated form of coffee made by forcing pressurized hot water through very finely-ground, compacted coffee beans. Espresso has become one of the world’s most beloved drinks, either enjoyed alone in small “shots”, or as the basis for other coffee-based drinks including cappuccino, latte, and americano.
Orbit of Asteroid (335500) Espresso
(335500) Espresso is a main-belt asteroid with a period of 3.87 years, and an inclination of 2.3 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 asteroid was discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey; Mount Lemmon offers both student and adult astronomy programs. Attendees of the 2024 ACME workshop got a tour the Mount Lemmon site – which was very cool!
