File:000210-asteroid_shape_model_(210)_Isabella.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
- Johann Palisa
- Discovery date
- 12 November 1879
- Pronunciation
- / ɪ z ə ˈ b ɛ l ə /
- Alternative designations
- A879 VA, 1953 EZ 1 , 1962 BF
- Minor planet category
- Main belt (Nemesis)
- Observation arc
- 131.26 yr (47943 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0567 AU (457.28 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.3892 AU (357.42 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.7230 AU (407.36 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.493 yr (1,641.2 d)
- Average orbital speed
- 18.05 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 153.338 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 9.66 / day
- Inclination
- 5.2600°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 32.582°
- Argument of perihelion
- 15.041°
- Dimensions
- 86.65 ± 2.3 km , 73.70 ± 8.47 km
- Mass
- (3.41 ± 1.09) × 10 kg
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 211 Isolda
- Follows
- 209 Dido
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 86.65
- Orbital period
- 1640.150046634325
Show 20 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Johann Palisa
- site of astronomical discovery
- Pula Observatory
- provisional designation
- A879 VA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1879-11-12
- orbital inclination
- 5.25879512692104
- Commons category
- 210 Isabella
- albedo
- 0.0436
- rotation period
- 6.672
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 9.38
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1232838149847092
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.721803506087267
- periapsis
- 2.386249186218071
- apoapsis
- 3.057357825956462
- longitude of ascending node
- 32.55087069425619
- argument of periapsis
- 13.87060114700178
- mean anomaly
- 180.898851311862
- time of periapsis
- 2461816.479881592
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
- different from
- Isabella
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
210 Isabella is a large and dark asteroid from the central asteroid belt, approximately 80 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered in Pola by Johann Palisa on 12 November 1879. The origin of the name is unknown. It is orbiting at a distance of 2.72 AU from the Sun with an eccentricity of 0.12 and a period of 4.49 yr. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 5.26° to the plane of the ecliptic.
The asteroid is probably composed of material similar to carbonaceous chondrites. It is classified as a member of the Nemesis family of asteroids. Estimates of the diameter range from 74 to 87 km. It is spinning with a period of 6.67 h.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “210 Isabella” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.