File:000427-asteroid_shape_model_(427)_Galene.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
- 27 August 1897
- Pronunciation
- / ɡ ə ˈ l iː n iː /
- Alternative designations
- 1897 DJ
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Galenean / ɡ æ l ɪ ˈ n iː ə n /
- Observation arc
- 110.93 yr (40,519 d) 110.93 yr (40519 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.32976 AU (498.125 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.61263 AU (390.844 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.97119 AU (444.484 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.12 yr (1,870.7 d) 5.12 yr (1870.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 90.0900 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 32.806 / day
- Inclination
- 5.12388°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 297.424°
- Argument of perihelion
- 12.2909°
- Dimensions
- 29.98 ± 1.2 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 3.705 h (0.1544 d )
via Wikipedia infobox
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
427 Galene is a typical main belt asteroid. It was discovered by the French astronomer Auguste Charlois on 27 August 1897 from Nice, and was named after Galene, one of the Nereids of Greek mythology (Hesiod, Theogony 240). This asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.97 AU with a period of 5.12 yr and an eccentricity of 0.12. A computer search suggests it is the most likely parent body of the impactor that generated the temporary cometary activity of 7968 Elst–Pizarro in 1996.
Analysis of the light curve generated from photometry data collected during 2009 show a rotation period of 3.705±0.005 h with a brightness variation of 0.6 in magnitude. Based upon an albedo of 0.26±0.03, this asteroid spans a diameter of 33.8±2.0 km.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “427 Galene” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.