File:1221_Amor_orbit.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
- E. Delporte
- Discovery site
- Uccle Obs.
- Discovery date
- 12 March 1932
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ æ m ɔːr /
- Named after
- Cupid , Roman analogue of Eros , (Classical mythology)
- Alternative designations
- 1932 EA 1
- Minor planet category
- NEO Amor Amor (II)
- Adjectives
- Amorian / ə ˈ m ɔːr i ə n /
- Symbol
- (astrological)
- Observation arc
- 86.50 yr (31,595 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.7550 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.0832 AU
- Semi major axis
- 1.9191 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 2.66 yr (971 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 102.03 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 22 14.52 / day
- Inclination
- 11.879°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 171.34°
via Wikipedia infobox
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1221 Amor /ˈæmɔːr/ is an asteroid and near-Earth object on an eccentric orbit, approximately 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in diameter. It is the namesake of the Amor asteroids, the second-largest subgroup of near-Earth objects. It was discovered by Eugène Delporte at the Uccle Observatory in 1932, the first time that an asteroid was seen to approach Earth so closely. The assumed S-type asteroid is one of few low-numbered asteroids for which no rotation period has been determined. It was assigned the provisional designation 1932 EA1 and named for Cupid, also known as "Amor" in Latin, the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Eros.
Discovery
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1221 Amor” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.