File:161Athor_(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 site
- Detroit Observatory
- Discovery date
- 19 April 1876
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ æ θ ər / , / ˈ ɑː θ ər /
- Named after
- Hathor
- Alternative designations
- A876 HA; 1899 TA;, 1961 PF; 1973 YN 4
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 116.50 yr (42551 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.70593 AU (404.801 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.05285 AU (307.102 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.37939 AU (355.952 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.67 yr (1340.6 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 348.807 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 6.737 / day
- Inclination
- 9.05986°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 18.6090°
- Time of perihelion
- 2024-Jan-13
- Argument of perihelion
- 295.007°
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 40.992
- Orbital period
- 1341.086821858176
- Image
- 161Athor (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A876 HA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1876-04-19
- albedo
- 0.23
- Commons category
- 161 Athor
- rotation period
- 7.28
- absolute magnitude
- 9.31
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1376711682334043
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.379974544818602
- periapsis
- 2.05232066886766
- apoapsis
- 2.707628420769543
- orbital inclination
- 9.051335833804142
- longitude of ascending node
- 18.43669508961309
- argument of periapsis
- 295.4166563463064
- mean anomaly
- 181.3244836174223
- time of periapsis
- 2461666.109390026
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
161 Athor is an M-type Main belt asteroid that was discovered by James Craig Watson on 19 April 1876, at the Detroit Observatory and named after Hathor, an Egyptian fertility goddess. It is the namesake of a proposed Athor asteroid family, estimated to be ~3 billion years old.
Photometric observations of the minor planet in 2010 gave a rotation period of 7.2798±0.0001 h with an amplitude of 0.19±0.02 in magnitude. This result is consistent with previous determinations. An occultation by Athor was observed, on 15 October 2002, showing an estimated diameter of 47.0 kilometres (29.2 mi). The spectra is similar to that of carbonaceous chondrites, with characteristics of ferric oxides and little or no hydrated minerals.