Juno (thing)

One of the larger asteroids in our solar system's asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Juno is technically classified as a "minor planet", and was discovered by one K Harding in Lilienthal, Germany on September 1, 1804. It is visible by telescope from Earth, with a magnitude of between 8 and 9 at most times, and is currently (April 2002) to be found in the constellation of Cancer. The 3rd minor planet to be discovered, it has a diameter of roughly 250 kilometers, orbits the sun once every 4.36 years, and exerts a gravitational force 0.8% as strong as that of the Earth. It's shaped a little like a potato.

Juno has for some reason captured the imagination of science fiction writers and futurologists - Greg Bear's bestselling novels Eon and Eternity feature an advanced human civilisation who have transformed the asteroid into a kind of spaceship by hollowing it out and attaching massive engines. Not only that, but the inertial damping mechanism they invented to stabilize the buildings inside Juno unexpectedly had the effect of warping space-time to the extent that the inside of the asteroid becomes larger than the outside.

The Solar System Tourist website, run by amateur astronomers, also features an article describing the possible advantages of colonizing asteroids, using Juno as an example.

Juno is one of five asteroids which normally figure in astrology, with influence over "marriage, partnership and collaboration", indicating where and with whom these partnerships are likely to emerge. The other astrological asteroids are Chiron, Ceres, Pallas and Vesta.