149 Medusa 149 Medusa Medusa (minor planet designation: 149 Medusa) is a bright-coloured, stony main-belt asteroid that was discovered by French astronomer J. Perrotin on September 21, 1875, and named after the Gorgon Medusa, a snake-haired monster in Greek mythology. When it was discovered, Medusa was by far the smallest asteroid found (although this was not known at that time). Since then, many thousands of smaller asteroids have been found. It was also the closest asteroid to the Sun discovered up to that point, beating the long-held record of 8 Flora. It remained the closest asteroid to the Sun until 433 Eros
HNLMS Medusa (1911) HNLMS Medusa (1911) HNLMS Medusa ("HW 1", "A 890") was a Dutch , built in Amsterdam and named after Medusa in Greek mythology. In the late afternoon of 14 May 1940, under constant heavy attack, the "Medusa" sailed for the United Kingdom, reaching The Downs the following day. She was first stationed at Falmouth alongside the two ships of the Douwe Aukes class before being transferred to Holyhead on 31 July 1940 to be the tender to the Dutch depot ship "Stuyvesant". After the war the "Medusa" remained in the UK until 15 January 1946, before returning to the Netherlands