1747 Wright

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

C. A. Wirtanen

Discovery site

Lick Obs.

Discovery date

14 July 1947

Named after

William Wright , (observatory's director)

Alternative designations

1947 NH

Minor planet category

Mars-crosser

Observation arc

69.24 yr (25,290 days)

Aphelion

1.8977 AU

Perihelion

1.5207 AU

Semi major axis

1.7092 AU

Orbital period sidereal

2.23 yr (816 days)

Mean anomaly

174.63 °

Mean motion

0° 26 27.96 / day

Inclination

21.416°

Longitude of ascending node

268.39°

Argument of perihelion

340.43°

Dimensions

5.17 ± 0.24 km , 6.35 ± 0.6 km ( IRAS :2)

Synodic rotation period

5.287 96 ± 0.000 05 h , 5.2896 ± 0.0002 h , 5.290 ± 0.001 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

6.35

Orbital period

816.1435560743854

Image

1747Wright (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0