File:134_Sophrosyne.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
Small body data
(134) Sophrosyne
- Orbit class
- Main-belt
- Semi-major axis
- 2.563 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.115
- Inclination
- 11.612 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 8.960 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Karl Theodor Robert Luther
- Discovery site
- Düsseldorf , North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
- Discovery date
- 27 September 1873
- Pronunciation
- / s oʊ ˈ f r ɒ s ɪ n iː /
- Named after
- sophrosyne
- Alternative designations
- A873 SA
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 138.60 yr (50625 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.86280 AU (428.269 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.26311 AU (338.556 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.56295 AU (383.412 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.10 yr (1498.7 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 18.54 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 229.885 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 24.76 / day
- Inclination
- 11.6018°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 345.986°
- Argument of perihelion
- 84.7156°
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Sophrosyne
- Followed by
- 135 Hertha
- Follows
- 133 Cyrene
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 108.0
- Mass
- 2.0
- Orbital period
- 1498.648563873589
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Robert Luther
- site of astronomical discovery
- Düsseldorf-Bilk Observatory
- time of discovery or invention
- 1873-09-27
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 11.6124117547218
- albedo
- 0.0364
- Commons category
- 134 Sophrosyne
- provisional designation
- A873 SA
- rotation period
- 17.196
- absolute magnitude
- 8.97
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1151200404203833
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.562915277933576
- periapsis
- 2.267872367543845
- apoapsis
- 2.857958188323307
- longitude of ascending node
- 345.8361875587275
- argument of periapsis
- 85.80149766936225
- mean anomaly
- 325.2098767142642
- time of periapsis
- 2461145.3282452757
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
134 Sophrosyne is a large main-belt asteroid that was discovered by German astronomer Robert Luther on 27 September 1873. It was named after the concept of sophrosyne, Plato's term for 'moderation'. Classified as a C-type asteroid, 134 Sophrosyne has an exceedingly dark surface and most probably a primitive carbonaceous composition.
This object is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.86 AU with an eccentricity of 0.12 and an orbital period of 4.10 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 11.6° to the plane of the ecliptic.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “134 Sophrosyne” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.