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
- C. H. F. Peters , 1878
- Discovery date
- 1 March 1878
- Pronunciation
- / j uː ˈ n aɪ k iː /
- Named after
- Εὐνίκη Eynīkē
- Alternative designations
- A878 EA
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Eunikean / j uː n ɪ ˈ k iː ə n /
- Observation arc
- 131.77 yr (48128 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0924 AU (462.62 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.3843 AU (356.69 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.7383 AU (409.64 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.53 yr (1655.1 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 327.48 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 3.036 / day
- Inclination
- 23.238°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 153.84°
- Argument of perihelion
- 224.01°
- Earth moid
- 1.41759 AU (212.068 Gm)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Eunice
- Followed by
- 186 Celuta
- Follows
- 184 Dejopeja
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 160.464
- Orbital period
- 1655.233632129765
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters
- site of astronomical discovery
- Litchfield Observatory
- time of discovery or invention
- 1878-03-01
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 23.25271037069059
- albedo
- 0.062
- Commons category
- 185 Eunike
- provisional designation
- A878 EA
- rotation period
- 21.797
- absolute magnitude
- 7.63
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1268688519396678
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.738465349782299
- periapsis
- 2.391039394778858
- apoapsis
- 3.085891304785741
- longitude of ascending node
- 153.7358140024319
- argument of periapsis
- 224.0215176857754
- mean anomaly
- 346.9407542710329
- time of periapsis
- 2461060.544729836
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
185 Eunike is a dark and very large main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on March 1, 1878, in Clinton, New York and named after Eunike, a Nereid in Greek mythology whose name means 'happy victory'. The name was chosen to celebrate the Treaty of San Stefano (1878).
This object is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.74 AU with an eccentricity of 0.129 and an orbital period of 4.53 years. Its orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 23.2° to the plane of the ecliptic. Using infrared measurements, the diameter has been measured at 160.464 km. It has a primitive carbonaceous composition.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “185 Eunike” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.