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
(610) Valeska
- Orbit class
- Main-belt
- Semi-major axis
- 3.094 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.252
- Inclination
- 12.599 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 12.520 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Max Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 26 September 1906
- Alternative designations
- 1906 VK
- Observation arc
- 109.47 yr (39983 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.8828 AU (580.86 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.2937 AU (343.13 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.0883 AU (462.00 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.43 yr (1982.3 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 98.063 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 53.796 / day
- Inclination
- 12.699°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 20.391°
- Argument of perihelion
- 359.806°
- Synodic rotation period
- 4.9047 h (0.20436 d )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 611 Valeria
- Follows
- 609 Fulvia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 19.153
- Orbital period
- 1987.696527112188
Show 17 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Max Wolf
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- A906 SN
- time of discovery or invention
- 1906-09-26
- orbital inclination
- 12.59935282463429
- albedo
- 0.074
- rotation period
- 4.9047
- absolute magnitude
- 12.52
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2516700741612025
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.093863161463058
- periapsis
- 2.315230390173038
- apoapsis
- 3.872495932753078
- longitude of ascending node
- 20.04528380883879
- argument of periapsis
- 1.842580571190315
- mean anomaly
- 351.0402501008377
- time of periapsis
- 2461049.9701771066
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
610 Valeska is a minor planet, specifically an asteroid, orbiting primarily in the asteroid belt. Discovered in 1906 by Max Wolf. The origin of the name is unknown, but it may be related to the provisional designation 1906 VK. In Slavic origin, it also means Glorious ruler. Photometric observations provide a rotation period of 4.9047±0.0002 h with a brightness variation of 0.17±0.03 in magnitude.
References
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “610 Valeska” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.