File:92_Undina_(orbit).gif · 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
- C. H. F. Peters
- Discovery site
- Litchfield Obs.
- Discovery date
- 7 July 1867
- Pronunciation
- / ʌ n ˈ d aɪ n ə /
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Undinian / ʌ n ˈ d ɪ n i ən /
- Observation arc
- 145.11 yr (53001 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.51946 AU (526.504 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.85654 AU (427.332 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.18800 AU (476.918 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.69 yr (2079.1 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 6.12456 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 23.347 / day
- Inclination
- 9.92900°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 101.588°
- Argument of perihelion
- 239.494°
- Mean diameter
- 126.42 ± 3.4 km , 124.44 ± 3.25 km
- Mass
- (4.43 ± 0.25) × 10 kg
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Undine
- Followed by
- 93 Minerva
- Follows
- 91 Aegina
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 126.42
- Orbital period
- 2076.632553401339
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters
- site of astronomical discovery
- Litchfield Observatory
- time of discovery or invention
- 1867-07-07
- asteroid spectral type
- X-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 9.923253391421234
- Commons category
- 92 Undina
- provisional designation
- A867 NA
- albedo
- 0.2509
- rotation period
- 15.941
- absolute magnitude
- 6.71
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1048647342178462
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.185474654436901
- periapsis
- 2.85143070144169
- apoapsis
- 3.519518607432112
- longitude of ascending node
- 101.3920760671928
- argument of periapsis
- 236.6846382938036
- mean anomaly
- 238.1604416655953
- time of periapsis
- 2461703.322203137
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
92 Undina (from Latin Undīna) is a large main belt asteroid. The asteroid was discovered by Christian Peters on 7 July 1867 from the Hamilton College Observatory. It is named for the eponymous heroine of Undine, a popular novella by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué.
This minor planet is orbiting at a distance of around 3 AU from the Sun, which is known for a concentration of Tholen M-type asteroids. Indeed, 92 Undina has an unusually high albedo of 0.25 and an M-type spectrum, or Xc-type on the Bus taxonomy. However, it displays absorption features at a wavelength of 3 μm, which is usually indicative of hydrated silicates on the surface. There is a faint band in the region of 9 μm that is typically attributed to a form of orthopyroxene having low levels of calcium and iron. The spectrum of 92 Undina closely resembles powdered material from the Esquel meteorite, although with a higher albedo.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “92 Undina” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.