Q157693
Also known as (895) Helio, Helio
outer 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
- Max Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 11 July 1918
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ h iː l i oʊ /
- Alternative designations
- 1918 DU
- Adjectives
~1 min read
Article
895 Helio is a large dark outer main-belt asteroid about 150 km in diameter. It was discovered on 11 July 1918 by German astronomer Max Wolf. It is named after the element helium, whose spectrum was studied by Friedrich Paschen and Carl David Tolmé Runge, with the asteroid being named by Paschen at Wolf's request; the name helium itself comes from Helios, the Greek god of the Sun.
This is a B-type asteroid. The best spectral analog for 895 Heloi is the iron rich pyroxene mineral hedenbergite. It shares similar orbital properties with the 31 Euphrosyne asteroid family, but is most likely an interloper. Light curve analysis provides a rotation period of 9.4 hours.