File:27Euterpe_(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
- J. R. Hind
- Discovery site
- George Bishop's Obs.
- Discovery date
- 8 November 1853
- Pronunciation
- / j uː ˈ t ɜːr p iː /
- Named after
- Euterpe (Greek mythology)
- Alternative designations
- 1945 KB
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Euterpe
- Adjectives
- Euterpean / j uː ˈ t ɜːr p i ə n /
- Observation arc
- 163.48 yr (59,711 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.7524 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9401 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3463 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.59 yr (1,313 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 170.66 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 27.12 / day
- Inclination
- 1.5837°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 94.789°
- Argument of perihelion
- 356.55°
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 96.0
- Orbital period
- 1313.457699579931
- Image
- 27Euterpe (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A853 VA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1853-11-08
- orbital inclination
- 1.583323524855904
- albedo
- 0.215
- Commons category
- 27 Euterpe
- rotation period
- 10.4082
- absolute magnitude
- 7.03
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1715637307579128
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.347173045847609
- periapsis
- 1.944483281367579
- apoapsis
- 2.749862810327638
- longitude of ascending node
- 94.7674175674123
- argument of periapsis
- 356.568878537553
- mean anomaly
- 272.9417752630247
- time of periapsis
- 2461318.131376646
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Article
27 Euterpe is a stony asteroid and parent body of the Euterpe family, located in the inner asteroid belt, approximately 100 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by English astronomer John Russell Hind at George Bishop's Observatory in London on 8 November 1853. The asteroid was named after Euterpe, the Muse of music in Greek mythology.
Euterpe is one of the brightest asteroids in the night sky. It had an apparent magnitude of 8.5 during a perihelic opposition on 25 December 2015 when the asteroid was about 1 AU from Earth. At the end of November 2022 it passed about 1.5 degrees from Uranus while in the constellation of Aries. Based on the S-type spectra the composition appears stony. It has a cross-section size of around 100–120 km. 27 Euterpe is orbiting the Sun with a period of 3.59 years and is spinning on its axis once every 10.4 hours.