File:151_Abundantia.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. Palisa
- Discovery site
- Austrian Naval Obs.
- Discovery date
- 1 November 1875
- Pronunciation
- / æ b ə n ˈ d æ n ʃ i ə /
- Named after
- Abundantia
- Alternative designations
- A875 VA; 1974 QS 2 , 1974 QZ 2
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 131.24 yr (47936 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.6792 AU (400.80 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.5049 AU (374.73 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5921 AU (387.77 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.17 yr (1524.3 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 141.90 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 10.212 / day
- Inclination
- 6.4348°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 38.872°
- Argument of perihelion
- 130.92°
- Dimensions
- 45.37 ± 0.9 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 39.037
- Orbital period
- 1523.315811419845
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A875 VA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1875-11-01
- orbital inclination
- 6.431730463138053
- albedo
- 0.233
- rotation period
- 9.864
- Commons category
- 151 Abundantia
- absolute magnitude
- 9.34
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.03610869581321887
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.590961832071338
- periapsis
- 2.497405579413413
- apoapsis
- 2.684518084729262
- longitude of ascending node
- 38.72584044884751
- argument of periapsis
- 132.2183110291901
- mean anomaly
- 223.6991918261519
- time of periapsis
- 2461577.2477116683
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Article
151 Abundantia is a stony main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 1 November 1875, from the Austrian Naval Observatory in Pula. The name was chosen by Edmund Weiss of the Vienna Observatory; although the name refers to Abundantia, a Roman goddess of luck, it was also chosen to celebrate the increasing numbers of asteroids that were being discovered in the 1870s.
Information from A. Harris as of 1 March 2001 indicates that 151 Abundantia is an S class (stony) asteroid with a diameter of 45.37 km and H = 9.24 .1728 and albedo of 0.03. The light curve collected over 6 nights from 2/16/2002 to 3/10/2002 confirmed the rotational period to be 19.718h.