File:Орбита_астероида_102.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
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters
- Discovery site
- Litchfield Observatory
- Discovery date
- 22 August 1868
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ m ɪ r i ə m /
- Named after
- Miriam
- Alternative designations
- A868 QA, 1944 FC, 1972 PC
- Minor planet category
- main belt
- Observation arc
- 145.65 yr (53198 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.33419 AU (498.788 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.98782 AU (297.374 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.66101 AU (398.081 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.34 yr (1585.5 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 23.9115 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 37.405 / day
- Inclination
- 5.17832°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 210.856°
- Argument of perihelion
- 147.247°
- Earth moid
- 0.98566 AU (147.453 Gm)
via Wikipedia infobox
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
102 Miriam is a moderately large, very dark main belt asteroid. It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on August 22, 1868, from the Litchfield Observatory.
Peters named the asteroid after Miriam, the sister of Moses in the Old Testament. This caused some controversy, because at the time, asteroids were expected to be named after mythological figures, and devout Christians and Jews would not regard Biblical figures as such. According to fellow astronomer Edward S. Holden, Peters deliberately chose a name from the Bible so as to annoy an overly pious theology professor of his acquaintance.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “102 Miriam” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.