Image by liming0759 on Pixabay · Pixabay License
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
- Auguste Charlois
- Discovery date
- 11 September 1891
- Pronunciation
- French: [ ʁɔksan ]
- Named after
- Roxana
- Alternative designations
- A891 RD
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 124.03 yr (45302 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.4832 AU (371.48 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.0901 AU (312.67 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.2866 AU (342.07 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.46 yr (1263.0 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 39.3360 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 17 6.18 / day
- Inclination
- 1.7657°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 151.38°
- Argument of perihelion
- 186.926°
- Dimensions
- 18.67 ± 1.4 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 8.169 h (0.3404 d )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 18.648
- Orbital period
- 1262.903645447549
- Image
- 317 Roxane.png
Show 15 more facts
- time of discovery or invention
- 1891-09-11
- orbital inclination
- 1.76611520855962
- Commons category
- 317 Roxane
- provisional designation
- A891 RD
- albedo
- 0.926
- rotation period
- 8.169
- absolute magnitude
- 9.75
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.0859275980576726
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.286552584006604
- periapsis
- 2.090074612630352
- apoapsis
- 2.483030555382856
- longitude of ascending node
- 151.3252208016884
- argument of periapsis
- 186.5779086962993
- mean anomaly
- 288.8650512069032
- time of periapsis
- 2461250.0460726377
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Article
317 Roxane is an asteroid from the asteroid belt approximately 19 km in diameter. It was discovered by French astronomer Auguste Charlois from Nice on 11 September 1891. The name was chosen by F. Bidschof, an assistant at the Vienna Observatory, at Charlois' request; Bidschof chose to name it after Roxana, the wife of Alexander the Great, and at first used the spelling "Roxana".
This asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.29 AU with a low eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.086 and an orbital period of 3.46 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 3.46° relative to the plane of the ecliptic. Infrared measurements show a diameter of 18.6 km. It is classified as an E-type asteroid and has a rotation period of 8.169 hours.