File:Орбита_астероида_268.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
- Alphonse Borrelly
- Discovery date
- 8 June 1887
- Pronunciation
- / ə ˈ d ɔːr i ə /
- Named after
- adorea liba ( spelt cakes)
- Alternative designations
- A887 LA
- Minor planet category
- Main belt ( Themis )
- Adjectives
- Adorean / ə ˈ d ɔːr i ə n /
- Observation arc
- 39,920 d (109.3 yr)
- Aphelion
- 3.515 AU (525.8 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.668 AU (399.2 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.092 AU (462.5 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.44 yr (1,985.5 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 302.257 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 52.748 / day
- Inclination
- 2.44010°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 120.914°
- Argument of perihelion
- 69.5742°
- Mean diameter
- 144.585 ± 0.892 km , 139.57 ± 3.31 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q149966
- Follows
- 267 Tirza
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 144.585
- Orbital period
- 1984.736837160233
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Alphonse Borrelly
- site of astronomical discovery
- Marseille Observatory
- time of discovery or invention
- 1887-06-08
- orbital inclination
- 2.440908738428263
- Commons category
- 268 Adorea
- provisional designation
- A887 LA
- albedo
- 0.041
- rotation period
- 7.8
- asteroid spectral type
- F-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 8.62
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1371943640245635
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.090791213765208
- periapsis
- 2.666752078859981
- apoapsis
- 3.514830348670434
- longitude of ascending node
- 120.8510217289115
- argument of periapsis
- 67.97661422808807
- mean anomaly
- 200.0882298173576
- time of periapsis
- 2461882.118836047
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
268 Adorea is a very large main belt asteroid, about 140 km (87 mi) in width. It was discovered by Alphonse Borrelly on 8 June 1887 in Marseille. This asteroid is a member of the Themis family and is classified as a primitive carbonaceous F-type/C-type asteroid. It is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 3.09 AU with an orbital eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.14 and a period of 5.44 yr. The orbital plane is tilted at an angle of 2.44° to the plane of the ecliptic.
From 23 February until 2 March 2006, photometric measurements were taken of the asteroid. These were used to produce a light curve showing a rotation period of 7.80±0.02 h with a brightness variation of 0.16±0.03 in magnitude. This result is consistent with some, but not all previous results. Some studies had suggested a longer rotation period of 15.959 h; double the time measured. However, the new data is inconsistent with the longer period.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “268 Adorea” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.