Asteroid 50000 Quaoar was discovered on June 4, 2002 by Chad Trujillo and Michael E. Brown at Palomar Observatory near Pauma Valley, California. It has a period of 283 years, 288 days.
Quaoar was named for the creator god of the Tongva Indians (also known as the San Gabrielito Indians), a Southern California tribe who once occupied more of the Los Angeles area than they now do. Quaoar, a force without form or gender, danced and sang Weywot, Sky Father, into existence; then, they created Chehooit, Earth Mother, and then Quaoar and Weywot and Chehooit brought Tamit, Grandfather Sun, to life, and then came the rest of the universe.
Astrologically, Quaoar seems to signify creation, procreation, demanding, trying experiences, being placed under a microscope, viewing less attractive aspects, flaws or complexities, scientific activities; also, questioning, constructing, clarifying, revealing, creating abstract mental models, a spirit of discovery, the big picture [says Jonathan Dunn].
Louise Brown, the world's first person conceived in vitro.
Louise Brown has Quaoar conjunct Ixion (inventiveness, bad karma) and Uranus (to be set apart, technology), semisquare Mars, sextile the MC, trine Nessus and opposite Chiron, Whiterabbit and Moe. She stands at the head of a large and ever-growing legion of in vitro babies; she is not altogether comfortable with that. She was teased in school and doesn't plan to use IVF to have any children of her own.
Elizabeth Carr, the first American in vitro baby, also has Quaoar conjunct Ixion, and also conjunct Eros (what turns one on), square Disneya (a heart-warming family story), trine Circe (help), quincunx Varuna (something huge, judgment) and opposite Chiron (medicine). She supports IVF and other reproductive technologies, with qualification: keeping in mind the child's best interest.
Controversial Italian reproductive scientist Severino Antinori has Quaoar on the Ascendant in the first house, conjunct Jupiter (philosophy, law), and the East Point (how the world sees you), and square Mars (aggression, assertion) and the Midheaven.
Pioneering computer scientist and mathematician Alan Turing, who committed suicide after running afoul of Britain's now-repealed sodomy law, had Quaoar conjunct Ceres (nurturance), square Hidalgo (to assert, to promote) and trine Rhadamanthus (the judge).
Albert Einstein had Quaoar on the Ascendant in the twelfth house, conjunct Vesta (commitment, intensity), square Pallas (mental perception, politics) and Askalaphus (media), quincunx Dolon (enduring, patriotism issues) and opposite Nessus (predation). Considered "slow" and perhaps a little strange as a child, he was notoriously absentminded as an adult; after fleeing Hitler's Germany, where his Jewish faith made him subject to persecution and murder, for the US, he was instrumental in the development of the atom bomb, yet his political views got him in some trouble in the years following World War II.
Wisconsin "deadbeat dad" David Oakley fathered nine children by four different women and was ordered by a judge in a controversial move not to father any more children until he could support the ones he had. Oakley, born September 27, 1966 in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, has a yod consisting of Quaoar, Varuna (grandiosity) and Saturn (responsibility, restriction); Quaoar is also semisextile Venus (love) and opposite Antenor (antisocial behavior).
The glyph for Quaoar is mine.