File:000388-asteroid_shape_model_(388)_Charybdis.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
- 7 March 1894
- Pronunciation
- / k ə ˈ r ɪ b d ɪ s /
- Named after
- Charybdis
- Alternative designations
- 1894 BA
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Charybdian / k ə ˈ r ɪ b d i ə n /
- Observation arc
- 122.09 yr (44595 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.20025 AU (478.751 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.81022 AU (420.403 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.00524 AU (449.578 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.21 yr (1902.9 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 10.9926 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 21.066 / day
- Inclination
- 6.44575°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 354.285°
- Argument of perihelion
- 333.004°
- Mean diameter
- 125.754 ± 1.887 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Charybdis
- Followed by
- 389 Industria
- Follows
- 387 Aquitania
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 125.754
- Orbital period
- 1902.558381008663
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Auguste Charlois
- site of astronomical discovery
- Nice Observatory
- provisional designation
- A894 ED
- time of discovery or invention
- 1894-03-07
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 6.448123335863454
- albedo
- 0.042
- Commons category
- 388 Charybdis
- rotation period
- 9.516
- absolute magnitude
- 8.7
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.0649927092025254
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.004874767653714
- periapsis
- 2.809579815689589
- apoapsis
- 3.200169719617837
- longitude of ascending node
- 354.1807572726556
- argument of periapsis
- 328.8563813014751
- mean anomaly
- 298.6215272049254
- time of periapsis
- 2461324.8781328606
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
388 Charybdis (/kəˈrɪbdɪs/, prov. designation: A894 ED or 1894 BA) is a very large background asteroid, approximately 125 kilometers (78 miles) in diameter, that is located in the outer region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by French astronomer Auguste Charlois at the Nice Observatory on 7 March 1894. The carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 9.5 hours. It is probably named after Charybdis, a sea monster in Greek mythology.
References
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “388 Charybdis” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.