Q152414

Also known as (396) Aeolia, Aeolia

main-belt asteroid

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: Auguste Charlois
Discovery date: 1 December 1894
Pronunciation: / iː ˈ oʊ l i ə /
Named after: Aeolis
Alternative designations: 1894 BL
Minor planet category: Main belt ( Aeolia clump )
Observation arc: 89.89 yr (32,831 d)
Aphelion: 3.17927 AU (475.612 Gm )
Perihelion: 2.30468 AU (344.775 Gm)
Semi major axis: 2.74198 AU (410.194 Gm)
Orbital period sidereal: 4.54 yr (1,658.4 d)
Mean anomaly: 81.8407 °
Mean motion: 0° 13 1.466 / day
Inclination: 2.54990°
Longitude of ascending node: 249.930°
Argument of perihelion: 21.8317°
Dimensions: 34.09 ± 3.2 km
Synodic rotation period: 14.353 h (0.60 d)

via Wikipedia infobox

~1 min read

Encyclopedic overview

396 Aeolia is a typical main belt asteroid. It was discovered by the French astronomer Auguste Charlois on 1 December 1894 from Nice, and may have been named for the ancient land of Aeolis. The asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.74 AU with a period of 4.54 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.16. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 2.5° to the plane of the ecliptic. This is the largest member of the eponymously named Aeolia asteroid family, a small group of asteroids with similar orbits that have an estimated age of less than 100 million years.

Analysis of the asteroid light curve based on photometry data collected during 2016 show a rotation period of 14.353±0.001 h with a brightness variation of 0.36±0.02 in magnitude. This rules out a previous estimate of 22.2 hours. It is a metallic Xe type asteroid in the SMASS classification.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q152414” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.