File:Calculated_shape_model_for_(96)_Aegle.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
- J. Coggia
- Discovery site
- Marseille Obs.
- Discovery date
- 17 February 1868
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ ɛ ɡ l iː /
- Named after
- Aegle (Hesperid of Greek mythology)
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Aegle
- Adjectives
- Aeglean / ɛ ɡ ˈ l iː ə n /
- Observation arc
- 149.92 yr (54,760 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.4796 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6251 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0524 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.33 yr (1,948 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 29.930 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 5.28 / day
- Inclination
- 15.963°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 321.60°
- Argument of perihelion
- 208.97°
- Dimensions
- 178.7 km × 148.3 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 177.774
- Orbital period
- 1944.459765656503
Show 15 more facts
- time of discovery or invention
- 1868-02-17
- orbital inclination
- 15.98457694469441
- albedo
- 0.048
- Commons category
- 96 Aegle
- provisional designation
- A868 DA
- rotation period
- 13.868
- absolute magnitude
- 7.67
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1423002108890713
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.048833372582098
- periapsis
- 2.614983740698027
- apoapsis
- 3.482683004466169
- longitude of ascending node
- 321.4707602789155
- argument of periapsis
- 207.9293722680282
- mean anomaly
- 189.1716602122284
- time of periapsis
- 2461923.191204309
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Article
96 Aegle is a carbonaceous asteroid and the namesake of the Aegle family located in the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 170 kilometers (110 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 17 February 1868, by French astronomer Jérôme Coggia at the Marseille Observatory in southeastern France. The rare T-type asteroid has a rotation period of 13.8 hours and has been observed several times during occultation events. It was named after Aegle ("brightness"), one of the Hesperides (nymphs of the evening) from Greek mythology.
Orbit and classification