File:Орбита_астероида_318.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
- Auguste Charlois
- Discovery date
- 24 September 1891
- Pronunciation
- / m æ ɡ d ə ˈ l iː n ə /
- Named after
- Possibly Mary Magdalene
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 124.56 yr (45496 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.46477 AU (518.322 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.92120 AU (437.005 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.19298 AU (477.663 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.71 yr (2084.0 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 158.522 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 21.886 / day
- Inclination
- 10.6573°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 161.509°
- Argument of perihelion
- 296.737°
- Dimensions
- 85 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 42.49 h (1.770 d )
via Wikipedia infobox
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
318 Magdalena is a main belt asteroid orbiting the Sun. It was discovered by French astronomer Auguste Charlois on 24 September 1891 in Nice. It may be named for Mary Magdalene, who in legend travelled to Southern Gaul and is the patron saint of Provence.
This asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 3.19 AU with a low eccentricity of 0.085 and an orbital period of 5.71 years. The orbital period is inclined at an angle of 10.7° to the plane of the ecliptic. It is spinning with a rotation period of 42.49 hours.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “318 Magdalena” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.