File:167Urda_(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
Small body data
(167) Urda
- Orbit class
- Main-belt
- Semi-major axis
- 2.853 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.037
- Inclination
- 2.218 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 9.370 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- C. H. F. Peters
- Discovery site
- Clinton, New York
- Discovery date
- 28 August 1876
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ ɜːr d ə /
- Named after
- Urd
- Alternative designations
- A876 QA; 1899 KC;, 1905 QA; 1906 WA
- Minor planet category
- main belt ( Koronis asteroid family )
- Observation arc
- 132.01 yr (48218 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.9583526 AU (442.56325 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.7493497 AU (411.29686 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.8538511 AU (426.93005 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.82 yr (1760.9 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 37.607175 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 15.969 / day
- Inclination
- 2.212408°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 166.21859°
- Argument of perihelion
- 133.03586°
- Earth moid
- 1.73392 AU (259.391 Gm)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Urðr
- Followed by
- 168 Sibylla
- Follows
- 166 Rhodope
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 39.935
- Orbital period
- 1760.785748068065
- Image
- 167Urda (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 20 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters
- site of astronomical discovery
- Litchfield Observatory
- provisional designation
- A876 QA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1876-08-28
- asteroid family
- Koronis family
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 2.217447916795089
- albedo
- 0.223
- Commons category
- 167 Urda
- rotation period
- 13.07
- absolute magnitude
- 9.38
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.0370463261351069
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.853680789476106
- periapsis
- 2.747962400263684
- apoapsis
- 2.959399178688527
- longitude of ascending node
- 166.0904168546151
- argument of periapsis
- 127.1754940861438
- mean anomaly
- 18.72349119940681
- time of periapsis
- 2460908.9220653945
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0