File:Орбита_астероида_211.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
(211) Isolda
- Orbit class
- Main-belt
- Semi-major axis
- 3.048 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.154
- Inclination
- 3.873 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 7.960 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Johann Palisa
- Discovery date
- 10 December 1879
- Pronunciation
- / ɪ ˈ z oʊ l d ə /
- Named after
- Iseult
- Alternative designations
- A879 XA, 1912 AB, 1912 BA, 1950 FM
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Isoldian / ɪ ˈ z oʊ l d i ə n /
- Observation arc
- 136.19 yr (49742 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.53270 AU (528.484 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.5514 AU (381.68 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.04205 AU (455.084 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.31 yr (1938.0 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 17.08 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 260.142 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 8.74 / day
- Inclination
- 3.8856°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 263.644°
- Argument of perihelion
- 173.522°
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Part of
- asteroid belt
- Named after
- Iseult
- Followed by
- 212 Medea
- Follows
- 210 Isabella
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 141.125
- Orbital period
- 1943.634558950218
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Johann Palisa
- site of astronomical discovery
- Pula Observatory
- provisional designation
- A879 XA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1879-12-10
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 3.873686249734292
- Commons category
- 211 Isolda
- albedo
- 0.062
- rotation period
- 18.365
- absolute magnitude
- 7.96
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1545711103458548
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.047970717985034
- periapsis
- 2.576842499804435
- apoapsis
- 3.519098936165633
- longitude of ascending node
- 263.164787801534
- argument of periapsis
- 173.6963836671564
- mean anomaly
- 170.9907896366635
- time of periapsis
- 2460077.323311111
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
211 Isolda is a very large, dark main-belt asteroid. It is classified as a C-type asteroid and is probably composed of primitive carbonaceous material. The spectra of the asteroid displays evidence of aqueous alteration.
It was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on 10 December 1879, in Pola, and is possibly named after Isolde, heroine of the legend of Tristan and Iseult.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “211 Isolda” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.