(39382) Opportunity Outer Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 24 September 1960 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.
Opportunity is one of NASA's successful 2004 Mars Exploration Rovers. It explored rock layers in the walls of craters at Meridiani Planum.Naming citation (20040928/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Opportunity is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Opportunity is 4.40 au from the Sun and 5.40 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 39382 |
| Provisional designation | 2696 P-L |
| Orbit class | Outer Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 7.45 km (#7,144 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0610 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.49 |
| Orbital period | 7.95 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.98 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 3.21 – 4.76 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.195 |
| Inclination | 2.90° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 2.22 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Mars
All asteroids named after someone called Mars
Also discovered on 24 September 1960
- (1743) Schmidt
- (1744) Harriet
- (1776) Kuiper
- (1777) Gehrels
- (1795) Woltjer
- (1808) Bellerophon
- (1809) Prometheus
- (1810) Epimetheus
- (1811) Bruwer
- (1812) Gilgamesh
- (1846) Bengt
- (1868) Thersites