File:119Althaea_(Lightcurve_Inversion).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
- James Craig Watson
- Discovery date
- 3 April 1872
- Pronunciation
- / æ l ˈ θ iː ə /
- Named after
- Althaea
- Alternative designations
- A872 GA; 1972 KO
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 143.99 yr (52593 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.7896 AU (417.32 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.37335 AU (355.048 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.58147 AU (386.182 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.15 yr (1515.0 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 18.51 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 114.868 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 15.472 / day
- Inclination
- 5.7831°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 203.674°
- Argument of perihelion
- 170.021°
- Earth moid
- 1.37297 AU (205.393 Gm)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 57.3
- Mass
- 200
- Orbital period
- 1514.378565154268
- Image
- 119Althaea (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A872 GA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1872-04-03
- orbital inclination
- 5.786828661914658
- albedo
- 0.2306
- Commons category
- 119 Althaea
- rotation period
- 11.484
- absolute magnitude
- 8.34
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.08187397546267572
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.580817835368315
- periapsis
- 2.369516019241734
- apoapsis
- 2.792119651494897
- longitude of ascending node
- 203.614636399446
- argument of periapsis
- 170.3141411885667
- mean anomaly
- 202.3983519939024
- time of periapsis
- 2461663.468215482
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
119 Althaea is a main-belt asteroid that was discovered by Canadian-American astronomer J. C. Watson on April 3, 1872, and named after Althaea, the mother of Meleager in Greek mythology. Two occultations by Althaea were observed in 2002, only a month apart.
This object is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.58 AU with an eccentricity of 0.08, bringing it as close as 2.37 AU and taking it as far as 2.79 AU over the course of its 4.15 year orbital period. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 5.78° relative to the plane of the ecliptic.