File:360_Carlova.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
- 11 March 1893
- Alternative designations
- 1893 N
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Carlovian
- Observation arc
- 111.79 yr (40832 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.53698 AU (529.125 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.46807 AU (369.218 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.00253 AU (449.172 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.20 yr (1900.3 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 350.473 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 21.988 / day
- Inclination
- 11.6967°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 132.551°
- Argument of perihelion
- 287.862°
- Dimensions
- 115.76 ± 4.3 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 6.183 h (0.2576 d )
- Geometric albedo
- 0.0535 ± 0.004
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 361 Bononia
- Follows
- Q583532
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 129.125
- Orbital period
- 1902.56192533717
- Image
- 360Carlova (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Auguste Charlois
- site of astronomical discovery
- Nice Observatory
- provisional designation
- 2017 YP22
- time of discovery or invention
- 1893-03-11
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 11.74307651609174
- Commons category
- 360 Carlova
- albedo
- 0.043
- rotation period
- 6.183
- absolute magnitude
- 8.5
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1737263372120643
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.004878499561969
- periapsis
- 2.482851964065784
- apoapsis
- 3.526905035058153
- longitude of ascending node
- 132.1611339551417
- argument of periapsis
- 290.2509236926135
- mean anomaly
- 271.3857243927175
- time of periapsis
- 2461468.817074477
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
360 Carlova is a very large main-belt asteroid. It is classified as a C-type asteroid and is probably composed of carbonaceous material. Dust activity due to sublimation has been detected on this asteroid, suggesting the presence of water ice in its interior.
The asteroid has a convex, roughly ellipsoid shape. The sidereal rotation period is 6.1873 hours with an axis of rotation along the ecliptic coordinates (l, b) = (95°±3°, 40°±1°). It was discovered by Auguste Charlois on 11 March 1893 in Nice.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “360 Carlova” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.