489 Comacina

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

489 Comacina (A902 RD)

Orbit class

Main-belt Asteroid

Diameter

139.390 km

Albedo

0.043

Rotation period

9.020 h

Absolute magnitude

8.600 H

Earth MOID

2 AU

via NASA/JPL Small-Body Database

Key facts

Discovered by

Luigi Carnera

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

2 September 1902

Pronunciation

/ k ɒ m ə ˈ s aɪ n ə /

Named after

Isola Comacina

Alternative designations

1902 JM

Adjectives

Comacinian / k ɒ m ə ˈ s ɪ n i ə n /

Observation arc

105.09 yr (38384 d)

Aphelion

3.2927 AU (492.58 Gm )

Perihelion

3.0089 AU (450.13 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1508 AU (471.35 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.59 yr (2042.8 d )

Mean anomaly

282.24 °

Mean motion

0° 10 34.428 / day

Inclination

13.000°

Longitude of ascending node

166.898°

Argument of perihelion

12.215°

Mean radius

69.695 ± 1.5 km

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

139.39

Orbital period

2043.506339367101

via Wikidata · CC0