File:165_Loreley.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
- C. H. F. Peters
- Discovery date
- 9 August 1876
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ l ɔːr ə l aɪ /
- Alternative designations
- A876 PA; 1948 QS;, 1959 PB; 1960 WG
- Minor planet category
- main belt
- Observation arc
- 139.51 yr (50957 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3904 AU (507.20 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.8599 AU (427.83 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.1251 AU (467.51 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.525 yr (2,017.9 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 125.88 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 42.24 / day
- Inclination
- 11.224°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 302.53°
- Argument of perihelion
- 347.29°
- Earth moid
- 1.84454 AU (275.939 Gm)
- Jupiter moid
- 1.81383 AU (271.345 Gm)
- Dimensions
- 180.083 ± 2.064 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 180.083
- Orbital period
- 2019.516390166295
- Image
- 165Loreley (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A876 PA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1876-08-09
- orbital inclination
- 11.23382489029856
- albedo
- 0.047
- Commons category
- 165 Loreley
- rotation period
- 7.226
- absolute magnitude
- 7.81
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.08351852945497062
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.126794242178143
- periapsis
- 2.865648985163155
- apoapsis
- 3.387939499193132
- longitude of ascending node
- 302.4269637744559
- argument of periapsis
- 344.4744218435954
- mean anomaly
- 15.25040376017099
- time of periapsis
- 2460914.948776805
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
165 Loreley is a large main-belt asteroid that was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on August 9, 1876, in Clinton, New York and named after the Lorelei, a figure in German folklore. It is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 3.125 AU and a low eccentricity of 0.08. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 11.2° to the plane of the ecliptic.
In the late 1990s, a network of astronomers worldwide gathered light curve data that was ultimately used to derive the spin states and shape models of 10 new asteroids, including (165) Loreley. The light curve of this asteroid varies by no more than 0.2 in magnitude, while the derived shape model shows multiple flat spots on the surface. The asteroid has an oblate shape with a size ratio of 1.26 ± 0.08 between the major and minor axes, as determined from the W. M. Keck Observatory.