File:Орбита_астероида_207.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
Small body data
(207) Hedda
- Orbit class
- Main-belt
- Semi-major axis
- 2.284 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.028
- Inclination
- 3.800 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 10.240 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Johann Palisa
- Discovery date
- 17 October 1879
- Pronunciation
- German: [ ˈhɛdaː ]
- Named after
- Hedwig Winnecke
- Alternative designations
- A879 UA, 1932 CL 1 , 1934 XJ, 1953 BF
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 133.61 yr (48801 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.3497 AU (351.51 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.2177 AU (331.76 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.2837 AU (341.64 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.45 yr (1260.5 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 19.71 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 34.9926 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 17 8.124 / day
- Inclination
- 3.8036°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 29.212°
- Time of perihelion
- 2023-Feb-21
- Argument of perihelion
- 192.936°
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 208 Lacrimosa
- Follows
- 206 Hersilia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 57.88
- Orbital period
- 1260.844915560012
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Johann Palisa
- site of astronomical discovery
- Pula Observatory
- provisional designation
- A879 UA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1879-10-17
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 3.799517664923622
- albedo
- 0.058
- rotation period
- 30.098
- Commons category
- 207 Hedda
- absolute magnitude
- 10.26
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.02848466332247723
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.284066950177489
- periapsis
- 2.219006072095686
- apoapsis
- 2.349127828259292
- longitude of ascending node
- 29.08296261295142
- argument of periapsis
- 193.0805103877527
- mean anomaly
- 285.7125636039423
- time of periapsis
- 2461260.6803790834
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
207 Hedda is a sizeable Main belt asteroid. It is a C-type asteroid, meaning it is primitive in composition and dark in colour. This asteroid was discovered by Johann Palisa on October 17, 1879, in Pola and was named after Hedwig Winnecke (née Dell), wife of astronomer Friedrich A. T. Winnecke.
Attempts to determine the rotation period for this asteroid have led to conflicting results. A study published in 2010 using photometric observations from Organ Mesa Observatory showed a rotation period of 19.489 ± 0.002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.18 ± 0.02 in magnitude.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “207 Hedda” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.