File:162Laurentia_(Lightcurve_Inversion).png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, 162 Laurentia is referenced by 12 other articles, and connects out to asteroid belt, Paris and day.
Vinony files it under Astronomical objects discovered in 1876, Background asteroids and Ch-type asteroids (SMASS).
Its subject is documented across 44 Wikipedia language editions.
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
- Paul Henry and Prosper Henry
- Discovery site
- Paris
- Discovery date
- 21 April 1876
- Pronunciation
- / l ɒ ˈ r ɛ n ʃ i ə /
- Named after
- Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent
- Alternative designations
- A876 HB
- Minor planet category
- main belt
- Observation arc
- 113.88 yr (41596 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.5574 AU (532.18 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.4779 AU (370.69 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.0177 AU (451.44 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.24 yr (1914.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 300.020 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 16.872 / day
- Inclination
- 6.0977°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 35.539°
- Argument of perihelion
- 116.277°
- Earth moid
- 1.49465 AU (223.596 Gm)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent
- Followed by
- 163 Erigone
- Follows
- 161 Athor
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 97.021
- Orbital period
- 1911.481258944289
- Image
- 162Laurentia (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 19 more facts
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- discoverer or inventor
- Prosper-Mathieu Henry
- site of astronomical discovery
- Paris Observatory, PSL University
- time of discovery or invention
- 1876-04-21
- albedo
- 0.051
- Commons category
- 162 Laurentia
- provisional designation
- A876 HB
- rotation period
- 11.8686
- absolute magnitude
- 9.11
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1829986108249924
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.01426255367624
- periapsis
- 2.462656693691693
- apoapsis
- 3.565868413660785
- orbital inclination
- 6.091999472938005
- longitude of ascending node
- 35.42183602945877
- argument of periapsis
- 115.6411808861743
- mean anomaly
- 220.3801183082685
- time of periapsis
- 2461741.8355200826
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
162 Laurentia is a large and dark main-belt asteroid that was discovered by the French brothers Paul Henry and Prosper Henry on 21 April 1876, and named after Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, an amateur astronomer who discovered asteroid 51 Nemausa.
An occultation by Laurentia was observed from Clive, Alberta on 21 November 1999.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “162 Laurentia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.