File:Aglaja_(asteroid).jpg · 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
- Robert Luther
- Discovery date
- September 15, 1857
- Pronunciation
- / ə ˈ ɡ l eɪ . ə /
- Named after
- Aglaea
- Alternative designations
- Aglaia
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Aglajan
- Aphelion
- 488.740 million km (3.267 AU )
- Perihelion
- 372.222 million km (2.488 AU)
- Semi major axis
- 430.481 million km (2.878 AU)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 1,782.960 d (4.88 a )
- Mean anomaly
- 225.007°
- Inclination
- 4.985°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 3.244°
- Argument of perihelion
- 314.589°
- Dimensions
- 141.90 ± 8.72 km
- Mass
- (3.25 ± 1.68) × 10 kg
- Mean density
- 2.17 ± 1.19 g/cm
via Wikipedia infobox
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
An image of 47 Aglaja made using Light curves. 47 Aglaja /əˈɡleɪ.ə/ is a large, dark main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Robert Luther on 15 September 1857 from Düsseldorf. The name was chosen by the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Bonn and refers to Aglaea, one of the Charites in Greek mythology. It was rendered Aglaia in English sources into the early 20th century, as 'i' and 'j' are equivalent in Latin names and in the Latin rendering of Greek names.
Based upon its spectrum, 47 Aglaja is listed as a C-type asteroid under the Tholen classification taxonomy, indicating a carbonaceous composition. The SMASS classification system rates it as a rare B-type asteroid. There is a broad absorption feature at 1 μm that is associated with the presence of magnetite and is what gives the asteroid its blue tint.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “47 Aglaja” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.