File:172_Baucis.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
- A. Borrelly
- Discovery date
- 5 February 1877
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ b ɔː s ɪ s /
- Named after
- Baucis
- Alternative designations
- A877 CA; 1921 EE
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 133.62 yr (48806 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.6525 AU (396.81 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.1073 AU (315.25 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.3799 AU (356.03 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.67 yr (1341.0 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 175.49 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 6.42 / day
- Inclination
- 10.028°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 331.98°
- Argument of perihelion
- 359.20°
- Earth moid
- 1.09593 AU (163.949 Gm)
- Jupiter moid
- 2.67257 AU (399.811 Gm)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 62.43
- Orbital period
- 1340.870984374988
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A877 CA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1877-02-05
- orbital inclination
- 10.01600190489201
- albedo
- 0.1382
- Commons category
- 172 Baucis
- rotation period
- 27.417
- absolute magnitude
- 8.72
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1141327766057335
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.379719179052357
- periapsis
- 2.108115221605195
- apoapsis
- 2.651323136499519
- longitude of ascending node
- 331.8891752958212
- argument of periapsis
- 359.1986423615591
- mean anomaly
- 8.294040958425596
- time of periapsis
- 2460969.607669821
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
172 Baucis is a large main belt asteroid that was discovered by French astronomer Alphonse Borrelly on February 5, 1877. It was named after a fictional character in the Greek legend of Baucis and Philemon. The adjectival form of the name is Baucidian.
This object is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.38 AU with an eccentricity of 0.11 and an orbital period of 3.67 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 10° to the plane of the ecliptic. Based on infrared measurements, it has a diameter of 62.43 km. It is classified as an S-type asteroid based upon its spectrum.