File:413Edburga_(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
- Max Wolf
- Discovery date
- 7 January 1896
- Alternative designations
- 1896 CL
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 99.18 yr (36,225 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.47021 AU (519.136 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.69586 AU (253.697 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.58304 AU (386.417 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.15 yr (1,516.3 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 83.4524 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 14.694 / day
- Inclination
- 18.7206°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 103.866°
- Argument of perihelion
- 252.655°
- Dimensions
- 31.95 ± 2.8 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 15.773 h (0.6572 d )
- Pole ecliptic longitude
- 202° (λ)
- Pole ecliptic latitude
- −45° (β)
via Wikipedia infobox
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
413 Edburga is a typical Main belt asteroid. Max Wolf discovered it on 7 January 1896 at Heidelberg Observatory. The origin of the name is unknown. This asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.58 AU with a period of 4.15 yr and an eccentricity of 0.34. Its orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 18.7° to the plane of the ecliptic.
Analysis of the asteroid's light curve based on photometric data collected during 2011 shows a rotation period of 15.78±0.02 h with a brightness variation of 0.53±0.02 in magnitude. This is consistent with prior results. This is classified as an M-type asteroid in the Tholen system and X-type in the Bus and Binzel taxonomy, with a moderate albedo and generally featureless near infrared spectra. An absorption feature has been detected at a wavelength 3 μm, suggesting this is W-type. It spans a diameter of 31.95±2.8 km. Radar echoes are bimodal, suggesting a bifurcated structure that is likely a contact binary.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “413 Edburga” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.