File:Hektor_&_Skamandrios_2006_Jul_16.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
- A. Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 10 February 1907
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ h ɛ k t ər /
- Named after
- Hector (Greek mythology)
- Alternative designations
- 1907 XM; 1948 VD
- Minor planet category
- Jupiter trojan · Hektor , Greeks
- Adjectives
- Hektorean or Hektorian , (both / h ɛ k ˈ t ɔːr i ə n / )
- Observation arc
- 111.28 yr (40,646 d)
- Aphelion
- 5.3824 AU
- Perihelion
- 5.1319 AU
- Semi major axis
- 5.2571 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 12.05 yr (4,403 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 136.09 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 4 54.48 / day
- Inclination
- 18.166°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 342.79°
- Argument of perihelion
- 185.22°
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Hector
- Followed by
- 625 Xenia
- Follows
- 623 Chimaera
- Parent body
- Sun
- Child body
- Skamandrios
- Diameter
- 225
- Mass
- 9950000000000000000
- Orbital period
- 4426.792722460235
- Image
- 624Hektor-LB1-mag15.jpg
Show 24 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- August Kopff
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- A907 CF
- time of discovery or invention
- 1907-02-10
- orbital inclination
- 18.14818855891491
- Commons category
- 624 Hektor
- apparent magnitude
- 15.26
- rotation period
- 6.924
- density
- 1.63
- surface gravity
- 0.067
- albedo
- 0.025
- temperature
- 122
- angular diameter
- 0.078
- asteroid spectral type
- D-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 7.33
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.02428641659120509
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 5.276271971058777
- periapsis
- 5.148130231921145
- apoapsis
- 5.404413710196409
- longitude of ascending node
- 342.8029872353022
- argument of periapsis
- 180.6836596644199
- mean anomaly
- 9.229438914775702
- time of periapsis
- 2460887.008852721
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
624 Hektor /ˈhɛktər/ is the largest Jupiter trojan and the namesake of the Hektor family, with a highly elongated shape equivalent in volume to a sphere of approximately 225 to 250 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 10 February 1907, by astronomer August Kopff at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany, and named after the Trojan prince Hector, from Greek mythology. It has one small 12-kilometer sized satellite, Skamandrios, discovered in 2006.
Description
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “624 Hektor” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.