File:000186-asteroid_shape_model_(186)_Celuta.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
186 Celuta
Also known as (186) Celuta, Celuta
50 km main-belt asteroid
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
- P. M. Henry , 1878
- Discovery date
- 6 April 1878
- Pronunciation
- / s ɛ ˈ l uː t ə /
- Alternative designations
- A878 GA; 1954 FD
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
~1 min read
Article
186 Celuta is a main belt asteroid. It was discovered by the French astronomers Paul Henry and Prosper Henry on April 6, 1878. This was the last discovery credited to the Prosper brothers. The asteroid is named after Céluta, a female character in two works of fiction by François-René de Chateaubriand, Atala (1801) and René (1802). The Henry brothers had already named another of their discoveries, 152 Atala, after the heroine of Atala. Both Atala and Céluta are American Indian fictional characters.
This object is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.36 km with an eccentricity of 0.15 and an orbital period of 3.63 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 13.2° relative to the plane of the ecliptic. 186 Celuta has a diameter of 50 km and it is classified as a stony S-type asteroid.