566 Stereoskopia
Sign in to saveAlso known as (566) Stereoskopia, Stereoskopia
outer main-belt asteroid
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
- Paul Götz
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 28 May 1905
- Pronunciation
- / ˌ s t ɛr i oʊ ˈ s k oʊ p i ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1905 QO
- Observation arc
- 1,687.12 d (40,491 h)
- Aphelion
- 3.7804 AU (565.54 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.9908 AU (447.42 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.3856 AU (506.48 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 6.23 yr (2,275.4 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 177.298 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 9 29.592 / day
- Inclination
- 4.8864°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 79.644°
- Argument of perihelion
- 298.527°
- Mean radius
- 84.08 ± 3.15 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 12.103 h (0.5043 d )
- Geometric albedo
- 0.0383 ± 0.003
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 567 Eleutheria
- Follows
- Q155591
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- 167.381
- Orbital period
- 2264.842862275396
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Paul Götz
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- A907 VL
- time of discovery or invention
- 1905-05-28
- albedo
- 0.039
- Commons category
- 566 Stereoskopia
- rotation period
- 12.103
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 8.21
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1200817706949317
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.375150158219249
- periapsis
- 2.969856150859003
- apoapsis
- 3.780444165579496
- orbital inclination
- 4.89468291045481
- longitude of ascending node
- 79.51322251521222
- argument of periapsis
- 300.3501345349172
- mean anomaly
- 355.2394396755772
- time of periapsis
- 2461030.4497807533
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
566 Stereoskopia is a large, outer main-belt asteroid orbiting the Sun. It was discovered on 28 May 1905 from Heidelberg by German astronomer Paul Götz. The discovery was made from photographic plates with the use of a stereo-comparator that had been provided by Carl Pulfrich, a German physicist at the Carl Zeiss Company. The asteroid name is a reference to this device.
This object is a member of the Cybele group located beyond the core of the main belt. It is orbiting at a distance of 3.39 AU with a period of 6.23 yr and an eccentricity of 0.12. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 4.9° to the plane of the ecliptic. Light curve analysis based on photometric data collected during 2008 provide a rotation period of 12.103±0.002 h for this asteroid. It has a diameter of approximately 167 km and is classified as a carbonaceous C-type asteroid.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “566 Stereoskopia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.