Asteroid 60186, Las Cruces, was discovered on November 13, 1999 at Jornada Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico, by David S. Dixon and Janet Stevens. Asteroid Las Cruces has a period of 5 years, 231 days.
It was named for Las Cruces, the third-largest city in New Mexico, longtime home of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh, and location of New Mexico State University as well as Jornada Observatory.
Las Cruces, New Mexico, looking toward the Organ Mountains to the east of town.
Las cruces means "the crosses" in Spanish. The city's name refers to a makeshift cemetery which came into being after a party of California-bound emigrants was attacked and murdered in the 1850s by Mescalero Apache Indians angered at white encroachment on their land. The Indian warriors left the bodies lying on the ground, and the emigrants were buried by people from nearby Mesilla (now a Las Cruces suburb), who put up crosses to mark the graves.
Astrologically, asteroid Las Cruces seems to indicate to have a cross to bear, to put an end to something.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai has Las Cruces sextile Venus (values) and Lilith (having to accept something), trine Uranus (liberalism, progress, breaking loose) and Vesta (dedication, commitment), and quincunx Varuna (something huge).
East Timorese president Xanana Gusmao has Las Cruces in the eighth house, conjunct Chariklo (glamorization, need to keep persepective), semisextile Vesta (dedication), sextile Pluto (transformation, power) and Pallas (politics), square Hidalgo (to assert, to promote, to defend), and opposite Nessus (predators, grasping, need to eliminate psychological toxins).
Mexican president Benito Juarez (born March 21, 1806 in Guelatao de Juarez, Oaxaca, Mexico) had Las Cruces conjunct Hidalgo, sextile Jupiter (philosophy, politics) and square Mercury (thinking, speaking, writing, ideas).
Anti-drunk-driving activist Candy Lightner, who started Mothers Against Drunk Driving after her daughter was killed by a drunk driver, has Las Cruces square Pluto and Ceres (to nurture, family, grief) and trine Chariklo.
Silent film star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, whose career was virtually ruined by a sex scandal, had Las Cruces semisextile Ceres, sextile Nessus (sex, unpleasantness) and Deucalion (hard, mean, overwhelmed), square Saturn (work, career, consequences, little reward) and opposite Elatus (eloquently expressed, misleading reports).
Mary Vincent (born May 17, 1963) was viciously raped and mutilated as a teenage hitchhiker by Lawrence Singleton, tried to convince other teens not to hitchhike, and lived in fear for years until Singleton finally died of cancer on Florida's death row (where Vincent had helped send him). Vincent had Las Cruces conjunct Lilith (having to resign oneself to something), square Pelion (life is tough), Bienor (acting to nurture, condemning) and Chariklo, trine Asbolus (awful experiences, advice given but not necessarily taken) and Cruithne (branded), and opposite the Sun (to shine, celebrity) and Mercury.
John Bennett Ramsey (born December 7, 1943 in Lincoln, Nebraska), father of famed child murder victim JonBenet Ramsey, has Las Cruces square Huya (something missing), trine the Sun (fatherhood, to shine) and quincunx Chiron (lessons taught or learned).
His wife, JonBenet's mother Patsy Ramsey (born December 29, 1956 in Parkersburg, West Virginia), has Las Cruces semisextile the North Node (connections made), trine Pallas (politics), and quincunx the South Node (separation). Both the Ramseys (and their son) have been accused of murdering JonBenet, and although the evidence now points to an intruder having done the deed, many people believe them to be guilty of JonBenet's death; certainly the investigation into her murder was bungled.
Automaker Lee Iacocca, who, after being fired from Ford in a dispute with his boss Henry Ford II, found himself having to turn around Chrysler, which was poorly run and hemorrhaging money, and was reviled for seeking a loan from the government to do this, while his diabetic wife was dying. Later, he was accused of condoning potentially lethal design defects in the Mustang, which he was instrumental in creating while at Ford, and tried to take over Chrysler to keep it American-owned when Daimler-Benz was about to buy it. Iacocca has Las Cruces in the ninth house of mind-expansion and foreign countries, sextile the Sun and Vesta (dedication), square Ixion (second chances, lust for life, inventive) and Elatus (eloquently expressed), and trine Neptune (idealism, vision, imagination, illusion), Pelion (what gets and keeps you in the game, life is tough), Asbolus, Dioretsa (something that sticks, pushed off course), Pholus (courage before power, need to show respect, to permeate), and Chiron (ingenious).
The glyph for Las Cruces is my conception and is taken from the longtime logo of the city of Las Cruces.