File:000114-asteroid_shape_model_(114)_Kassandra.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
- Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters
- Discovery date
- 23 July 1871
- Pronunciation
- / k ə ˈ s æ n d r ə /
- Named after
- Cassandra
- Alternative designations
- A871 OA
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 113.62 yr (41501 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0407 AU (454.88 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.31581 AU (346.440 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.67825 AU (400.660 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.38 yr (1600.9 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 18.12 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 197.019 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 29.525 / day
- Inclination
- 4.9367°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 164.222°
- Argument of perihelion
- 352.208°
- Earth moid
- 1.3244 AU (198.13 Gm)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 94.178
- Mass
- 1.0
- Orbital period
- 1598.093006612605
Show 15 more facts
- time of discovery or invention
- 1871-07-23
- orbital inclination
- 4.945921051057913
- albedo
- 0.089
- Commons category
- 114 Kassandra
- provisional designation
- A871 OA
- rotation period
- 10.7431
- absolute magnitude
- 8.46
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1389815077672843
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.675073686480566
- periapsis
- 2.30328791214491
- apoapsis
- 3.046859460816223
- longitude of ascending node
- 164.0534471367025
- argument of periapsis
- 352.5316645146517
- mean anomaly
- 241.8384575496381
- time of periapsis
- 2461525.0364851123
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
114 Kassandra is a large and dark main-belt asteroid. It belongs to the class of rare T-type asteroids. It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on July 23, 1871, and is named after Cassandra, the prophetess in the tales of the Trojan War.
This object is classified as a rare T-type asteroid, with parts of the spectrum displaying properties similar to the mineral troilite and to carbonaceous chondrite. The shape of the spectrum also appears similar to fine grain from the Ornans meteorite, which landed in France in 1868. The light curve for this asteroid displays a period of 10.758 ± 0.004 hours with a brightness variation of 0.25 ± 0.01 in magnitude.