Skylog: Heliosphere

Asteroid 87 Sylvia Animation

Asteroid 87 Sylvia was discovered by Norman Robert Pogson on May 16, 1866 from Madras (Chennai), India. Paul Erget, in his The Names of the Minor Planets (1955), attributes the name as honouring the first wife of astronomer Camille Flammarion, Sylvie Petiaux-Hugo Flammarion (this entry is signed by A. Paluzie-Borrell). However in the article announcing the discovery of this asteroid (MNRAS, 1866), Pogson explained that he selected the name in reference to Rhea Silvia, mother of Romulus and Remus.