205 Martha

Also known as (205) Martha, Martha

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: Johann Palisa
Discovery date: 13 October 1879
Pronunciation: / ˈ m ɑːr θ ə /
Named after: Martha of Bethany
Alternative designations: A879 TB
Minor planet category: Main belt
Observation arc: 136.51 yr (49860 d)
Aphelion: 2.8758 AU (430.21 Gm )
Perihelion: 2.6783 AU (400.67 Gm)
Semi major axis: 2.7771 AU (415.45 Gm)
Orbital period sidereal: 4.63 yr (1690.3 d )
Average orbital speed: 17.87 km/s
Mean anomaly: 198.37 °
Mean motion: 0° 12 46.692 / day
Inclination: 10.696°
Longitude of ascending node: 211.792°
Argument of perihelion: 177.281°
Dimensions: 80.58 ± 1.4 km

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter: 76.983
Orbital period: 1690.298278556165

Show 15 more facts

time of discovery or invention: 1879-10-13
orbital inclination: 10.70634164053522
albedo: 0.061
Commons category: 205 Martha
provisional designation: A879 TB
rotation period: 14.911
absolute magnitude: 9.42
orbital eccentricity: 0.03589437685400014
semi-major axis of an orbit: 2.777004700540186
periapsis: 2.677325847293667
apoapsis: 2.876683553786705
longitude of ascending node: 211.7206581120632
argument of periapsis: 171.4622614419242
mean anomaly: 208.2483335489333
time of periapsis: 2461713.015501584

Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Article

205 Martha is a large main belt asteroid. It is a dark, primitive carbonaceous C-type asteroid. This object was discovered by Johann Palisa on 13 October 1879, in Pola and was named after Martha, a woman in the New Testament.

Efforts to determine the rotation period for this asteroid have produced wildly different results, in large part because the actual period is close to half of an Earth day. A study performed during 2013 showed that the light curve changed significantly during the observation period, adding to the difficulty. This study gave a synodic rotation period of 14.905 ± 0.001 h.