174567 Varda

174567 Varda /ˈvɑːrdə/ (Quenya: [ˈvarda]), provisional designation 2003 MW₁₂, is a trans-Neptunian object with an absolute magnitude of 3.5. It is highly likely to be a dwarf planet. It was discovered on June 21, 2003 by Jeffrey A. Larsen with the Spacewatch telescope.

It is currently 47.5 AU from the Sun, and will come to perihelion around November 2096. It has been observed 68 times over 14 oppositions with precovery images back to 1980.

Satellite

A satellite, Ilmarë /ˈɪlməriː/ (stress on the first syllable, Quenya: [ˈilmarɛ]), or Varda I, was discovered in an image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope on 26 April 2009, and reported in 2011. It is estimated to be 7005361000000000000♠361+42
−38 km in diameter (about 50% that of its primary).

Name

Names for Varda and its moon were announced on 16 January 2014. Varda is the queen of the Valar, creator of the stars, and principal goddess of the elves in J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional mythology. Ilmarë is a chief of the Maiar and Varda's handmaiden.

Varda

Varda Elentári [ˈvarda elenˈtaːri] is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. She appears in Tolkien's Silmarillion as an "archangelic" Power.

Together with Galadriel, Varda is the clearest reflection of Roman Catholic Marian devotion in Tolkien's work. The hymn A Elbereth Gilthoniel, the longest sample of the Sindarin language published by Tolkien, is addressed to her.

Character description

Varda is one of the Valar, the pantheon or angelic powers in the legendarium. She is the greatest of the Valar, being associated with light she is central to the dualism of light and darkness in Tolkien's cosmology.

Varda with the dews from the vats of Telperion she made the brightest stars in the heavens, most significantly the Valacirca, The Sickle of the Valar (The Big Dipper) and Menelmacar (Orion).

She resided with her husband Manwë, with whom she shared a complementary power. When they were together, Manwë "sees further than all other eyes, through mist, and through darkness, and over the leagues of the sea" and Varda "hears more clearly than all other ears the sound of voices that cry from east to west". When the evil Vala Melkor first began to create his discord, Varda saw his true nature and rejected him. Melkor feared and hated Varda the most out of the Valar because he greatly desired to possess light.

Varda (disambiguation)

Varda can refer to the following:

People:

Places:

Other uses:

Voice-activated radio-dispatched alarm

A voice-activated radio-dispatched alarm, or VARDA-alarm, is a type of burglar alarm that, when activated or "tripped", broadcasts the type of the alarm and the transmitter location over the local police radio frequency using a pre-recorded audio message.

See also

External links