File:000214-asteroid_shape_model_(214)_Aschera.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
- 29 February 1880
- Pronunciation
- / ə ˈ ʃ ɪər ə /
- Alternative designations
- A880 DB, 1903 SE, 1947 BP, 1948 JE, 1949 QG 2 , 1949 SX 1 , 1950 XH, 1953 OO
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 136.09 yr (49707 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.6938 AU (402.99 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.5279 AU (378.17 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.6108 AU (390.57 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.22 yr (1,540.9 d)
- Average orbital speed
- 18.43 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 167.065 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 1.068 / day
- Inclination
- 3.4364°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 341.997°
- Argument of perihelion
- 131.579°
- Dimensions
- 23.16 ± 1.0 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 6.835 h (0.2848 d )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 24.957
- Orbital period
- 1540.920564486646
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A880 DB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1880-02-29
- orbital inclination
- 3.43707090628051
- Commons category
- 214 Aschera
- albedo
- 1.0
- rotation period
- 6.835
- absolute magnitude
- 9.33
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.03108898376485428
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.610885839729588
- periapsis
- 2.529716052246347
- apoapsis
- 2.692055627212829
- longitude of ascending node
- 341.9028274123837
- argument of periapsis
- 136.9110493894304
- mean anomaly
- 235.7905281580922
- time of periapsis
- 2461532.1581374034
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
214 Aschera is a Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on February 29, 1880, in Pola and was named after the Sidonian goddess Asherah. This minor planet is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.61 AU with a low eccentricity of 0.032 and an orbital period of 4.22 yr. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 3.44° to the plane of the ecliptic.
It is classified as a rare E-type asteroid and is fairly faint for an object of its type. The overall diameter is estimated to be 23 km and it has a geometric albedo of 0.52. Photometric data collected during September 2021 was used the generate a lightcurve for 214 Aschera. This showed a rotation period of 6.833±0.004 h with a brightness variation of 0.20 magnitude. Using a tri-axial ellipsoidal model derived from light curve data, the overall shape of the asteroid is estimated to be a/b = 1.24 ± 0.12 and b/c = 1.83 ± 0.10, where a, b, c are the three axes of an ellipsoid.