File:218Bianca_(Lightcurve_Inversion).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
- Johann Palisa
- Discovery date
- 4 September 1880
- Pronunciation
- / b i ˈ æ ŋ k ə /
- Named after
- Bianca Bianchi
- Alternative designations
- A880 RA
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 122.41 yr (44709 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.97915 AU (445.674 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.35524 AU (352.339 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.66719 AU (399.006 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.36 yr (1591.0 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 18.24 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 170.102 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 34.565 / day
- Inclination
- 15.2006°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 170.635°
- Argument of perihelion
- 63.0175°
- Dimensions
- 60.62 ± 1.4 km , 56.735 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Bertha Schwarz
- Followed by
- 219 Thusnelda
- Follows
- 217 Eudora
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 60.62
- Orbital period
- 1592.627609165291
- Image
- 218Bianca (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 20 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Johann Palisa
- site of astronomical discovery
- Pula Observatory
- time of discovery or invention
- 1880-09-04
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 15.19383153167827
- described by source
- Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
- Commons category
- 218 Bianca
- provisional designation
- A880 RA
- albedo
- 0.1746
- rotation period
- 6.337
- absolute magnitude
- 8.69
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1153056113289574
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.668971126742047
- periapsis
- 2.361223779353719
- apoapsis
- 2.976718474130374
- longitude of ascending node
- 170.5083115929524
- argument of periapsis
- 62.32599285891803
- mean anomaly
- 220.2838238180893
- time of periapsis
- 2461618.5995545397
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
218 Bianca is a sizeable Main belt asteroid. It is an S-type asteroid. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 4 September 1880, in Pola and was named after the Austro-Hungarian opera singer Bianca Bianchi (real name Bertha Schwarz). The Vienna newspapers contained several published accounts of the circumstances surrounding the honor extended to the diva in Spring 1882. In the late 1990s, a network of astronomers worldwide gathered lightcurve data that was ultimately used to derive the spin states and shape models of ten new asteroids, including (218) Bianca. The shape model for this asteroid is asymmetrical.
References
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “218 Bianca” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.