File:36Atalante_(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
- H. Goldschmidt
- Discovery date
- October 5, 1855
- Designation
- (36) Atalante
- Pronunciation
- / æ t ə ˈ l æ n t ə / for Atalanta , / æ t ə ˈ l æ n t iː / for Atalante
- Named after
- Atalanta
- Alternative names
- A901 SB; A912 HC, Atalanta
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Atalantean / ˌ æ t ə l æ n ˈ t iː ə n /
- Aphelion
- 535.625 million km (3.580 AU)
- Perihelion
- 286.217 million km (1.913 AU)
- Semi major axis
- 410.921 million km (2.747 AU )
- Orbital period sidereal
- 1662.831 d (4.55 a )
- Average orbital speed
- 17.55 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 47.005°
- Inclination
- 18.432°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 358.472°
- Argument of perihelion
- 47.132°
- Mean diameter
- 132.842 ± 29.191 km , 110.14 ± 4.38 km
via Wikipedia infobox
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
36 Atalante is a large, dark main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by the German-French astronomer H. Goldschmidt on October 5, 1855, and named by French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier after the Greek mythological heroine Atalanta (of which Atalante is the French and German form, pronounced nearly the same as 'Atalanta' in English). It was rendered 'Atalanta' in English sources in the 19th century. This asteroid is classified as C-type (carbonaceous), according to the Tholen classification system.
Observation of the asteroid light curve indicates it is rotating with a period of 9.93 ± 0.01 hours. During this interval, the magnitude varies by an amplitude of 0.12 ± 0.02. By combining the results of multiple light curves, the approximate ellipsoidal shape of the object can be estimated. It appears to be slightly elongated, being about 28.2% longer along one axis compared to the other two. Atalante was observed by Arecibo radar in October 2010.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “36 Atalante” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.