File:283_Emma.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
- Auguste Charlois
- Discovery date
- 8 February 1889
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ ɛ m ə /
- Alternative designations
- A889 CA, 1980 FJ 12
- Minor planet category
- Main belt ( Emma )
- Observation arc
- 122.26 yr (44655 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.49701 AU (523.145 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.59675 AU (388.468 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.04688 AU (455.807 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.32 yr (1942.6 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 17.07 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 127.107 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 7.148 / day
- Inclination
- 7.99162°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 304.369°
- Argument of perihelion
- 53.7020°
- Known satellites
- 1 ( 9 ± 5 km )
- Dimensions
- 148.06 ± 4.6 km ( IRAS ) , 160±10 km ( AO )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 284 Amalia
- Follows
- 282 Clorinde
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 132.385
- Mass
- 1.38
- Orbital period
- 1943.74029126503
- Image
- Орбита астероида 283.png
Show 20 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Auguste Charlois
- site of astronomical discovery
- Nice Observatory
- provisional designation
- A889 CA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1889-02-08
- asteroid spectral type
- X-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 7.988649789490093
- albedo
- 0.023
- different from
- Emma
- Commons category
- 283 Emma
- rotation period
- 6.896
- absolute magnitude
- 8.79
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1439195967853918
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.048081255251831
- periapsis
- 2.609402630026877
- apoapsis
- 3.486759880476786
- longitude of ascending node
- 303.8574044594366
- argument of periapsis
- 55.93070998940349
- mean anomaly
- 34.30480183091535
- time of periapsis
- 2460815.278818048
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
283 Emma is a large asteroid of the asteroid belt and the namesake of the Emma family. It was discovered by Auguste Charlois on 8 February 1889, in Nice, France. The reason for its name is unknown.
Measurements made with the IRAS observatory give a diameter of 145.70±5.89 km and a geometric albedo of 0.03±0.01. By comparison, the MIPS photometer on the Spitzer Space Telescope gives a diameter of 145.44±7.72 km and a geometric albedo of 0.03±0.01. When the asteroid was observed occulting a star, the results showed a diameter of 148.00±16.26 km.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “283 Emma” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.