File:60Echo_(Lightcurve_Inversion).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
- James Ferguson
- Discovery date
- September 14, 1860
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ ɛ k oʊ /
- Named after
- Echo
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Echoian / ɛ ˈ k oʊ . i ə n /
- Aphelion
- 2.830 AU (423.4 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.958 AU (292.9 Gm )
- Semi major axis
- 2.394 AU (358.1 Gm )
- Orbital period sidereal
- 1,353.002 d (3.70 yr )
- Mean anomaly
- 91.065°
- Inclination
- 3.602°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 191.803°
- Argument of perihelion
- 270.477°
- Dimensions
- 60.2 km
- Mass
- (3.15 ± 0.32) × 10 kg
- Mean density
- 2.78 ± 0.33 g/cm
- Synodic rotation period
- 25.2 hr
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 43.218
- Orbital period
- 1351.848494666018
- Image
- 60Echo (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A860 RB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1860-09-14
- orbital inclination
- 3.600192305594067
- albedo
- 0.373
- Commons category
- 60 Echo
- rotation period
- 25.208
- absolute magnitude
- 8.64
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1844561424297632
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.392689791162185
- periapsis
- 1.951343462253333
- apoapsis
- 2.834036120071037
- longitude of ascending node
- 191.5230284050136
- argument of periapsis
- 270.8583221487252
- mean anomaly
- 128.0891340349541
- time of periapsis
- 2460519.508047144
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
60 Echo is a quite large main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by James Ferguson of the United States Naval Observatory in Washington D.C., on September 14, 1860. It was his third and final asteroid discovery. It is named after Echo, a nymph in Greek mythology. James Ferguson had initially named it "Titania", not realizing that name was already used for a satellite of Uranus.
Orbit This object is orbiting the Sun with a period of 3.70 years, a semimajor axis of 2.394 AU, and an eccentricity of 0.18. Its orbital plane is at an inclination of 3.6° to the plane of the ecliptic. This is a stony S-type asteroid with a cross-sectional size of 60.2 km that is spinning with a rotation period of 25.2 hr. Echo has been studied by radar. It is not known to be a member of any asteroid family.