File:256_Walpurga.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, 256 Walpurga is referenced by 8 other articles, and connects out to light curve, Saint Walpurga and Vienna.
Vinony files it under Astronomical objects discovered in 1886, Background asteroids and Discoveries by Johann Palisa.
Its subject is documented across 42 Wikipedia language editions.
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
- 3 April 1886
- Pronunciation
- / v æ l ˈ p ɜːr ɡ ə /
- Named after
- Saint Walpurga
- Alternative designations
- A886 GA, 1951 VJ
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 130.04 yr (47496 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.19960 AU (478.653 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.79984 AU (418.850 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.99972 AU (448.752 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.20 yr (1897.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 352.098 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 22.945 / day
- Inclination
- 13.3281°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 182.937°
- Argument of perihelion
- 46.5713°
- Dimensions
- 63.34 ± 2.7 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 16.664 h (0.6943 d ) , 16.64 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 66.634
- Orbital period
- 1900.56839824163
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1951 VJ
- time of discovery or invention
- 1886-04-03
- orbital inclination
- 13.2974611332404
- albedo
- 0.05
- Commons category
- 256 Walpurga
- rotation period
- 16.664
- absolute magnitude
- 9.92
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.063050192599672
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.002779101119442
- periapsis
- 2.813453300459591
- apoapsis
- 3.192104901779293
- longitude of ascending node
- 182.5846961612748
- argument of periapsis
- 51.6412286176337
- mean anomaly
- 271.7716528998102
- time of periapsis
- 2461466.2889120216
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
256 Walpurga is a large Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 3 April 1886 in Vienna and was named after Saint Walburga.
Photometric observations at the Oakley Observatory in Terre Haute, Indiana, during 2007 were used to build a light curve for this asteroid. The asteroid displayed a rotation period of 16.64 ± 0.02 hours and a brightness variation of 0.38 ± 0.02 in magnitude.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “256 Walpurga” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.