Ceto is a double asteroid system, hence would better be named Ceto-Phorcys, in the Kuiper Belt and is classified as Scattered-Disc Object because of Ceto’s inclination of 22.27° towards the ecliptic and classified as well as a centaur because of an eccentricity, that results in an orbital period (the Ceto-year) of 1040 years and one month. Its perihel is closer to the Sun than that of Uranus. Ceto-Phorcys was it at its perihel in mid-1989. Ceto-Phorcys crosses the Kuiper Belt within 500 years and its aphel is six times as far away than that of Neptune. But other centaurs have much shorter orbital periods, rather around fifty to seventy years. So this categorization is strange to, although it is official. A better definition would have been that a centaur is in orbital resonance with Uranus as well as with Saturn because this is true for most of the centaurs. #65489 is the asteroid number of Ceto.

Ceto is named after Keto (Κητώ) from Greek mythology, Cetus in Latin, but the undecided intermediary form is due to a twist that English-speakers often give to names from other languages. Nobody else feels that pressed to change the names from Greek mythology without the excuse of having difficulties with spelling or pronouncing them. I can only wonder why. Keto is the daughter of Gaia and Pontos and should hence be a goddess, but is a sea monster and the mother of several other monsters, who are fathered by Phorcys, the husband and brother of Keto. A daughter of them is Echidna, who is the mother of other monsters. This almost looks like the ancient Greeks had already tried to describe the terrible effects of incest. Other children of Keto and Phorcys are the gorgons, the graeae, and the multi-headed dragon Ladon. These monsters have in common that they aren’t actively chasing humans, but the mythological heroes had to search for these monsters. The graeae are even much weaker than ordinary humans and probably representatives of high age and the ailments, which come with high age. Keto herself can actively chase humans and princess Cassiopeia was about to be sacrificed to Keto in order to make her spare the human settlements.

Ceto and Phorcys aren’t the only celestial objects, which are named after monsters meanwhile. Ceto-Phorcys is currently at twenty-four and a half degrees of Scorpio. Because of the orbital period of slightly more than 1040 years can Ceto only have an influence on the society and thus only indirectly influence individual humans. The creation of monsters isn’t anything alien to the human society. But the categorization seems to be subjective and judgemental. So there can’t be much said about Ceto yet and she can only be compared to similar celestial objects when they are discovered and examined. But as a sea monster is Ceto quite likely to describe some of the interaction, that humans have with the sea.