Named in memory of Juan Sebastián del Cano, the first to circumnavigate the globe. While Magellan {see planet
(4055)} is usually credited as being the first, this is true only by virtue of splicing his first voyage eastward from Europe to the Philippines with his second one westward to those islands where he was killed. The first true continuous circumnavigation was the heroic voyage of Juan del Cano, a young lieutenant of Magellan, who in command of the only remaining ship of the five that had begun the westward voyage navigated it safely for about 30,000 additional kilometers, returning home with his fellow 30 or so survivors more than three years after leaving home. Of astronomical interest is the fact that his log failed to tally by one day with the calendar of those who had not made the voyage — demonstrating the need for an international data line or its equivalent. (M 21130) _ _.