File:001075-asteroid_shape_model_(1075)_Helina.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
- G. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 29 September 1926
- Named after
- Helij Neujmin , (discoverer's son)
- Alternative designations
- 1926 SC · 1930 KV, 1965 CB · A906 YG, A916 WH
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos
- Observation arc
- 110.85 yr (40,489 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.3528 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6705 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0116 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.23 yr (1,909 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 156.59 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 18.96 / day
- Inclination
- 11.523°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 100.81°
- Argument of perihelion
- 250.61°
- Mean diameter
- 26.198 ± 0.414 km , 30.39 ± 7.76 km , 34.48 ± 0.58 km , 35.52 km , 37.93 ± 0.85 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 44.554 ± 0.1526 h , 44.6768 ± 0.0001 h , 44.6770 ± 0.0002 h , 44.677 ± 0.001 h , 44.9 ± 0.1 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q132934
- Follows
- 1074 Beljawskya
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 26.198
- Orbital period
- 1911.528973130767
- Image
- 001075-asteroid shape model (1075) Helina.png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Grigory Neujmin
- site of astronomical discovery
- Simeiz Observatory
- provisional designation
- A916 WH
- time of discovery or invention
- 1926-09-29
- orbital inclination
- 11.53213450058526
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1086784969631266
- periapsis
- 2.686721739396913
- apoapsis
- 3.341903689795196
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.014312714596055
- mean anomaly
- 0.9835267927922576
- longitude of ascending node
- 100.6983292038416
- argument of periapsis
- 251.0719703331551
- absolute magnitude
- 10.38
- Commons category
- 1075 Helina
- albedo
- 0.129
- rotation period
- 44.9
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2460995.277666777
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1075 Helina, provisional designation 1926 SC, is a stony Eos asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 34 kilometers (21 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 29 September 1926, by astronomer Grigory Neujmin at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The asteroid was named after the discoverer's son, Helij Neujmin.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1075 Helina” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.