601 Nerthus

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

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

21 June 1906

Pronunciation

/ ˈ n ɜːr θ ə s /

Alternative designations

1906 UN

Observation arc

109.82 yr (40111 d)

Aphelion

3.4573 AU (517.20 Gm )

Perihelion

2.8114 AU (420.58 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1344 AU (468.90 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.55 yr (2026.9 d )

Mean anomaly

265.379 °

Mean motion

0° 10 39.396 / day

Inclination

16.146°

Longitude of ascending node

169.575°

Argument of perihelion

159.811°

Mean radius

36.66 ± 1.2 km

Synodic rotation period

13.59 h (0.566 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0454 ± 0.003

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

75.535

Orbital period

2028.491273185098

Image

601Nerthus (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0