100 Hekate

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

J. C. Watson

Discovery date

11 July 1868

Pronunciation

/ ˈ h ɛ k ə t iː /

Named after

Hecate

Alternative designations

1955 QA

Minor planet category

Main belt

Adjectives

Hekatean (Hecatæan) / h ɛ k ə ˈ t iː ə n /

Observation arc

154.56 yr (56452 d)

Aphelion

3.60957 AU (539.984 Gm )

Perihelion

2.57132 AU (384.664 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.09045 AU (462.325 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.433 yr (1984.4 d )

Mean anomaly

323.244 °

Mean motion

0° 10 53.093 / day

Inclination

6.43092°

Longitude of ascending node

127.156°

Argument of perihelion

183.552°

Earth moid

1.55453 AU (232.554 Gm)

via Wikipedia infobox