File:126_Velleda.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
- Paul Henry and Prosper Henry
- Discovery date
- 5 November 1872
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ v ɛ l ɪ d ə /
- Named after
- Veleda
- Alternative designations
- A872 VA; 1949 YF;, 1950 BD 1
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Aphelion
- 403.523 Gm (2.697 AU)
- Perihelion
- 326.153 Gm (2.180 AU)
- Semi major axis
- 364.816 Gm (2.439 AU)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 1,391.107 days (3.81 yr)
- Mean anomaly
- 117.027°
- Inclination
- 2.92451°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 23.47325°
- Argument of perihelion
- 327.94065°
- Mean diameter
- 44.82 ± 1.3 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 5.364 ± 0.003 h
- Spectral type
- S
via Wikipedia infobox
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
126 Velleda is a main-belt asteroid. It is probably a rather typical, albeit sizable, S-type asteroid. This asteroid was named for Veleda, a priestess and prophet of the Germanic tribe of the Bructeri. It was discovered by Paul Henry on 5 November 1872, in Paris, France. It was his first credited discovery. He and his brother Prosper Henry discovered a total of 14 asteroids.
This body is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.44 AU with a period of 3.81 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.11. The orbital plane is inclined by 2.9° to the plane of the ecliptic. It has a cross-section diameter of ~45 km. This asteroid has had multiple studies of its rotation period, yielding an adopted period of 5.3672 h. During each rotation the brightness varies by 0.22 magnitudes.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q137391” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.