Bavaria is asteroid #301 and also known as A890 WA. Bavaria is a carbonaceous asteroid. Bavaria’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 2.73 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.07, a period of revolution of 1 644 days, and an inclination of 4.9 degrees. Bavaria was discovered by the Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Vienna Observatory.

Bavaria is named after Bavaria the national personification (only the personification is called Bavaria in German, sometimes also Mother Bavaria) of the state of Bavaria (Bayern) in Germany. For an explanation of the concept of national personification see my article on the asteroid Helvetia. Bavaria (Bayern) is not just a region, but the largest of the states (Bundesländer), which form the Federal Republic of Germany. Bavaria (Bayern) is in the southeast of Germany and borders Austria. Bavaria previously had been a large and independent kingdom within the German Confederation (and a dukedom previous to that) and an ally of Austria, when Prussia fought a war in 1866 to violently take Austria out of the German Confederation. Due to that war, a big schism between Prussia and Bavaria lasted until the Second World War, when Germany in truth got united and thus formed, although everybody pretends that Germany would have existed beforehand. Prussia and Bavaria are opposite poles of the German culture and Prussians still think that Bavarians would hate them because Bavarians make jokes about Prussians or derive a swearword from the name Prussian. The asteroid Bavaria represents Bavaria (Bayern) just like Helvetia represents Switzerland.