Stuart is asteroid #3874 and also known as 1986 TJ₁. Stuart measures 8.5 km in diameter. Stuart’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 2.68 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.05, a period of revolution of 1’604 days, and an inclination of 7.7 degrees. Stuart was discovered by Edward L. G. “Ted” Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station of the Lowell Observatory.

I had expected that Stuart would be named after the House of Stuart or at least after Marry Stuart, but asteroid #3874 instead is named after Stuart E. Jones, who was astronomer and photographic specialist at the Lowell Observatory. The asteroid got named at the occasion of his retirement. He had since 1962 been part of the staff of the Lowell Observatory and is in the official naming citation for the asteroid praised for his many talents, whether practical chemistry or the construction of sophisticated electronics. In particular, the NASA International Planetary Patrol Program, which ran from 1969 until 1990 and produced about one-million planetary images (from Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and their satellites), profited from his work.

While the name Stuart is nothing else than a name, its historical form Stewart in Middle English and Middle Scots was a spelling variant of the surname Steward, which indeed got derived from the profession of a steward. That’s not so much off from what Stuart E. Jones did, albeit in a much more science-orientated context. Asteroid #15371 is named Steward, yet after the Steward Observatory. So asteroid #3874 or Stuart astrologically represents the profession of a steward.