Image by juliopablo on Pixabay · Pixabay License
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
(5261) Eureka
- Orbit class
- Inner
- Semi-major axis
- 1.524 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.065
- Inclination
- 20.281 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 16.100 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- David H. Levy and Henry Holt
- Discovery date
- 20 June 1990
- Pronunciation
- / j ʊ ˈ r iː k ə / yuurr- EE -kə
- Named after
- Eureka
- Alternative designations
- 1990 MB
- Minor planet category
- Martian L5
- Observation arc
- 13267 days (36.32 yr)
- Aphelion
- 1.6222 AU (242.68 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.4249 AU (213.16 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 1.5236 AU (227.93 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 1.88 yr (686.89 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 24.11 km/ s
- Mean anomaly
- 145.29 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 31 26.76 / day
- Inclination
- 20.280°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 245.057°
- Argument of perihelion
- 95.456°
- Earth moid
- 0.497052 AU (74.3579 Gm)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Eureka
- Followed by
- 5262 Brucegoldberg
- Follows
- 5260 Philvéron
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- Mars trojan
- Diameter
- 1.878
- Orbital period
- 686.8434787518037
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Henry E. Holt
- site of astronomical discovery
- Palomar Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1990 MB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1990-06-20
- orbital inclination
- 20.28191958842011
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.06487352882090523
- absolute magnitude
- 16.1
- albedo
- 0.182
- periapsis
- 1.424655697335888
- apoapsis
- 1.622324024111949
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 1.523489860723918
- mean anomaly
- 232.030112742215
- longitude of ascending node
- 245.0131768515497
- argument of periapsis
- 95.54274760031726
- Commons category
- 5261 Eureka
- rotation period
- 2.6902
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2461244.65356261
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
via Wikidata · CC0
Article · Italiano
5261 Eureka è un asteroide areosecante. Scoperto nel 1990 dall'Osservatorio di Monte Palomar, presenta un'orbita caratterizzata da un semiasse maggiore pari a 1,5235293 au e da un'eccentricità di 0,0648414, inclinata di 20,28177° rispetto all'eclittica. È stato il primo asteroide troiano di Marte ad essere scoperto. L'asteroide è dedicato all'omonima espressione di origine greca solamente utilizzata per indicare la gioia di una scoperta.
Abstract from DBpedia / Wikipedia · CC BY-SA