File:423_Diotima.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
Small body data
423 Diotima (A896 XA)
- Orbit class
- Main-belt Asteroid
- Diameter
- 175.859 km
- Albedo
- 0.067
- Rotation period
- 4.775 h
- Absolute magnitude
- 7.380 H
- Earth MOID
- 1.950 AU
via NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Auguste Charlois
- Discovery date
- 7 December 1896
- Pronunciation
- / d aɪ . ə ˈ t aɪ m ə /
- Named after
- Diotima of Mantinea (Διοτίμα Diotīma )
- Alternative designations
- 1896 DB
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Diotimean / d aɪ . ɒ t ə ˈ m iː ə n / , Diotimian / d aɪ . ə ˈ t ɪ m i ə n /
- Observation arc
- 116.96 yr (42719 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.18523 AU (476.504 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.95026 AU (441.353 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.06774 AU (458.927 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.37 yr (1962.6 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 237.495 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 0.355 / day
- Inclination
- 11.2304°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 69.4710°
- Argument of perihelion
- 200.103°
- Dimensions
- 171 km × 138 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 175.859
- Orbital period
- 1961.657169323514
- Image
- 423Diotima (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1975 LV
- time of discovery or invention
- 1896-12-07
- orbital inclination
- 11.24258762408431
- albedo
- 0.067
- Commons category
- 423 Diotima
- rotation period
- 4.775
- absolute magnitude
- 7.38
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.03387291592402812
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.066783528161626
- periapsis
- 2.962902627555013
- apoapsis
- 3.17066442876824
- longitude of ascending node
- 69.34900085250402
- argument of periapsis
- 199.0873714069367
- mean anomaly
- 142.0724614957277
- time of periapsis
- 2460226.3403815096
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
423 Diotima is one of the larger main-belt asteroids. It is classified as a C-type asteroid and is probably composed of primitive carbonaceous material.
It was discovered by Auguste Charlois on 7 December 1896, in Nice. In the late 1990s, a network of astronomers worldwide gathered lightcurve data that was ultimately used to derive the spin states and shape models of 10 new asteroids, including 423 Diotima. The light curve for this asteroid varies "a lot" depending on the position, with the brightness variations ranging from almost zero to up to 0.2 in magnitude. Dunham (2002) used 15 chords and obtained an estimated size of 171 km × 138 km.