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
- K. Reinmuth
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 17 October 1930
- Pronunciation
- / ɪ ˈ n iː ə s /
- Named after
- Aeneas (Αἰνείας Aineias ) , (Greek mythology)
- Alternative designations
- 1930 UA
- Minor planet category
- Jupiter trojan , Trojan · background
- Adjectives
- Äneian
- Observation arc
- 87.27 yr (31,874 d)
- Aphelion
- 5.7602 AU
- Perihelion
- 4.6762 AU
- Semi major axis
- 5.2182 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 11.92 yr (4,354 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 238.45 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 4 57.72 / day
- Inclination
- 16.664°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 247.33°
- Argument of perihelion
- 50.803°
via Wikipedia infobox
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1172 Äneas /ɪˈniːəs/ is a large Jupiter trojan from the Trojan camp, approximately 140 kilometers (90 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 17 October 1930, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The dark D-type asteroid is one of the largest Jupiter trojans and has a rotation period of 8.7 hours. It is named after the Trojan prince Aeneas, from Greek mythology.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1172 Äneas” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.