File:76Freia_(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
- Heinrich d'Arrest
- Discovery date
- 21 October 1862
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ f r eɪ . ə /
- Named after
- Freyja
- Minor planet category
- Outer main belt ( Cybele )
- Adjectives
- Freian
- Aphelion
- 594.715 million km (3.975 AU)
- Perihelion
- 427.898 million km (2.860 AU)
- Semi major axis
- 511.306 million km (3.418 AU )
- Orbital period sidereal
- 2307.979 d (6.32 a )
- Average orbital speed
- 16.00 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 299.268°
- Inclination
- 2.116°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 204.535°
- Argument of perihelion
- 254.070°
- Dimensions
- 183.7 ± 4 km
- Mass
- (1.97 ± 4.20) × 10 kg
- Mean density
- 0.79 ± 1.69 g/cm
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 145.423
- Orbital period
- 2298.637797535972
- Image
- 76Freia (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A862 UA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1862-10-21
- orbital inclination
- 2.123513512857794
- albedo
- 0.058
- Commons category
- 76 Freia
- rotation period
- 9.973
- absolute magnitude
- 8.01
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1676535723002909
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.408642159560191
- periapsis
- 2.837171124816547
- apoapsis
- 3.980113194303836
- longitude of ascending node
- 204.2701644462823
- argument of periapsis
- 252.2385488655075
- mean anomaly
- 299.4691296804153
- time of periapsis
- 2461386.9959623176
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Article
76 Freia is a very large main-belt asteroid. It orbits in the outer part of the asteroid belt and is classified as a Cybele asteroid. Its composition is very primitive and it is extremely dark in color. Freia was discovered by the astronomer Heinrich d'Arrest on 21 October 1862, in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was his first and only asteroid discovery. It is named after the goddess Freyja in Norse mythology.
It is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 3.42 AU with a moderate eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.16 and an orbital period of 6.32 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 2.116° relative to the plane of the ecliptic. Based on infrared measurements, it has a diameter of 184 km. The asteroid has a Tholen spectral type of P.