File:000117-asteroid_shape_model_(117)_Lomia.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Picture of the Day · NASA
Pathfinder on Mars
2026-07-04
On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time. After its then novel airbag-assisted landing sequence was completed, Pathfinder transmitted this color mosaic to mission operators on Earth. In the scene from another world, the Mars Sojourner robot rover is visible in the foreground, crouched on top of the unfolded Pathfinder. About the size of a large house cat, the six-wheeled, solar-powered Sojourner became the first successful Martian rover. Surrounding Pathfinder are deflated airbags and the rock-strewn terrain of the Ares Vallis floodplain. In the distance Martian hills appear against a dusty brownish sky. The Pathfinder lander was subsequently renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.
via NASA APOD
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Alphonse Borrelly
- Discovery date
- 12 September 1871
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ l oʊ m i ə /
- Alternative designations
- A871 RB;1900 DA;, 1900 MC
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Lomian
- Observation arc
- 123.03 yr (44938 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0759 AU (460.15 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.90810 AU (435.046 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.99201 AU (447.598 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.18 yr (1890.4 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 17.22 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 317.47 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 25.584 / day
- Inclination
- 14.902°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 348.790°
- Argument of perihelion
- 52.461°
- Earth moid
- 1.92459 AU (287.915 Gm)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Lamia
- Followed by
- 118 Peitho
- Follows
- 116 Sirona
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 208.974
- Orbital period
- 1890.234463890318
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Alphonse Borrelly
- site of astronomical discovery
- Marseille Observatory
- provisional designation
- A871 RB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1871-09-12
- asteroid spectral type
- X-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 14.92192499871803
- albedo
- 0.027
- argument of periapsis
- 53.24201092795472
- Commons category
- 117 Lomia
- rotation period
- 9.127
- absolute magnitude
- 8.15
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.02292109180801113
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.991884567109772
- periapsis
- 2.923307306268077
- apoapsis
- 3.060461827951467
- longitude of ascending node
- 348.6167919181505
- mean anomaly
- 244.3981700028092
- time of periapsis
- 2461607.4848976373
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
117 Lomia is a large main-belt asteroid that has a nearly circular orbit; the orbital eccentricity is 0.029. It was discovered by French astronomer Alphonse Borrelly on September 12, 1871, from the Marseilles Observatory. The preliminary orbital elements were published in the following year by German astronomer Friedrich Tietjen. The reason for the name is uncertain, but Lutz D. Schmadel believes it is most likely a misspelling of Lamia, the female demon of Greek mythology (the asteroid 248 Lameia is also named after this figure).
Photometric observations of this asteroid in 1985 gave a light curve with a period of 9.127±0.009 hours and a brightness variation of 0.29±0.03 in magnitude. The curve is symmetrical with a single maxima and minima. This object has a spectrum that matches an XC classification; occupying the transition range between an X-type and a C-type asteroid. It has an estimated cross-section diameter of ~148 km.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “117 Lomia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.