File:773_Irmintraud_preliminary_spectrum.JPG · 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
773 Irmintraud (A913 YF)
- Orbit class
- Main-belt Asteroid
- Diameter
- 91.672 km
- Albedo
- 0.048
- Rotation period
- 6.751 h
- Absolute magnitude
- 9.130 H
- Earth MOID
- 1.620 AU
via NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
Key facts
- Discovered by
- F. Kaiser
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 22 December 1913
- Pronunciation
- German: [ ˈɪʁmɪntʁaʊt ]
- Named after
- Irmtraud , (German given-name)
- Alternative designations
- 1913 TV · 1946 SO, A910 CG
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · (outer)
- Observation arc
- 102.32 yr (37372 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0876 AU (461.90 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.6294 AU (393.35 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.8585 AU (427.63 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.83 yr (1765.2 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 220.21 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 14.184 / day
- Inclination
- 16.684°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 322.41°
- Argument of perihelion
- 331.91°
- Earth moid
- 1.62349 AU (242.871 Gm)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 91.672
- Orbital period
- 1766.633872144535
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A913 YF
- time of discovery or invention
- 1913-12-22
- orbital inclination
- 16.69156001036437
- Commons category
- 773 Irmintraud
- albedo
- 0.048
- rotation period
- 6.7514
- absolute magnitude
- 9.13
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.07912150326562387
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.859995945422819
- periapsis
- 2.633708766887377
- apoapsis
- 3.086283123958262
- longitude of ascending node
- 322.0947491247121
- argument of periapsis
- 335.0596922368339
- mean anomaly
- 190.3817916555691
- time of periapsis
- 2461832.870200538
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Article
773 Irmintraud, provisional designation 1913 TV, is a dark and reddish, rare-type asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, about 92 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 December 1913, by German astronomer Franz Kaiser at Heidelberg Observatory in southern Germany.
The asteroid is classified as a D-type and T-type body in the Tholen and SMASS taxonomy, respectively. The rare spectral T-type is similar to D-types which are often found among Jupiter trojans thought to have originated from the Kuiper belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.6–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 10 months (1,763 days). Its orbit is tilted by 17 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic and shows a low eccentricity of 0.08. According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the minor planet's low albedo lies in the range of 0.04–0.05. It has a well-defined rotation period of 6.75 hours, determined by several concurring observations.