File:264Libussa_(Lightcurve_Inversion).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
- C. H. F. Peters
- Discovery date
- 22 December 1886
- Pronunciation
- German: [ ˈliːbʊsaː ]
- Named after
- Libuše
- Alternative designations
- A886 YA
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 123.02 yr (44934 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1799 AU (475.71 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.41375 AU (361.092 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.79681 AU (418.397 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.68 yr (1708.4 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 17.81 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 254.88 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 38.592 / day
- Inclination
- 10.426°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 49.608°
- Argument of perihelion
- 340.891°
- Dimensions
- 50.48 ± 2.7 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 62.969
- Orbital period
- 1710.530395372093
- Image
- 264Libussa (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 15 more facts
- time of discovery or invention
- 1886-12-22
- orbital inclination
- 10.42509639956715
- Commons category
- 264 Libussa
- provisional designation
- A886 YA
- albedo
- 0.187
- rotation period
- 9.2276
- absolute magnitude
- 8.31
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1350899220490536
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.7991203993207
- periapsis
- 2.420987442770551
- apoapsis
- 3.17725335587085
- longitude of ascending node
- 49.49044394414155
- argument of periapsis
- 340.0120451408264
- mean anomaly
- 251.9477382356129
- time of periapsis
- 2461513.9074389907
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
264 Libussa is a Main belt asteroid that was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on 22 December 1886, in Clinton, New York and was named after Libussa, the legendary founder of Prague. It is classified as an S-type asteroid.
Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 2008 gave an asymmetrical, bimodal light curve with a period of 9.2276 ± 0.0002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.33 ± 0.03 in magnitude. Observation from the W. M. Keck Observatory show an angular size of 57 mas, which is close to the resolution limit of the instrument. The estimated maximum size of the asteroid is about 66 ± 7 km. It has an asymmetrical shape with a size ratio of more than 1.22 between the major and minor axes.