File:216_Kleopatra_VLT_(2021),_deconvolved.pdf · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Q147891 is a rocky body orbiting the Sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. While individual asteroids like this one are numerous, studying them helps scientists understand the early solar system and assess potential impact risks to Earth.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
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
- Pola Obs.
- Discovery date
- 10 April 1880
- Pronunciation
- / ˌ k l i ə ˈ p æ t r ə /
- Named after
- Cleopatra (Egyptian queen)
- Alternative designations
- A880 GB · 1905 OA, 1910 RA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( central ) , background
- Adjectives
- Kleopatrian, Kleopatrean
- Observation arc
- 137.60 yr (50,259 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.4951 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0931 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7941 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.67 yr (1,706 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 346.24 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 39.6 / day
- Inclination
- 13.113°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 215.36°
- Argument of perihelion
- 180.11°
via Wikipedia infobox
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
216 Kleopatra is a large M-type asteroid with a mean diameter of 120 kilometers (75 miles) and is noted for its elongate bone or dumbbell shape. It was discovered on 10 April 1880 by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Austrian Naval Pola Observatory, in what is now Pula, Croatia, and was named after Cleopatra VII, the famous Egyptian queen. It has two small minor-planet moons which were discovered in 2008 and later named Alexhelios and Cleoselene.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q147891” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.