File:Kalliope_VLT.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
22 Kalliope is a large asteroid located in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. It's scientifically important because studying asteroids like Kalliope helps scientists understand the composition and history of the early solar system.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
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
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Calliope
- Followed by
- 23 Thalia
- Follows
- Q107556
- Parent body
- Sun
- Child body
- Linus
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 167.536
- Orbital period
- 1812.668117613841
- Image
- Kalliope VLT.png
Show 20 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- John Russell Hind
- site of astronomical discovery
- Bishop Observatory
- time of discovery or invention
- 1852-11-16
- asteroid spectral type
- X-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 13.70168290418548
- albedo
- 0.166
- Commons category
- 22 Kalliope
- provisional designation
- A852 WA
- rotation period
- 4.1483
- density
- 2.37
- absolute magnitude
- 6.79
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.09887978433428482
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.909465730671522
- periapsis
- 2.62177838669473
- apoapsis
- 3.197153074648314
- longitude of ascending node
- 65.96711735251625
- argument of periapsis
- 358.2361912385053
- mean anomaly
- 310.6700562871426
- time of periapsis
- 2461248.8856005888
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
22 Kalliope (/kəˈlaɪ.əpi/; kə-LY-ə-pee) is a large M-type asteroid from the asteroid belt discovered by J. R. Hind on 16 November 1852. It is named after Calliope, the Greek Muse of epic poetry. It is orbited by a small moon named Linus.
Characteristics
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “22 Kalliope” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.