622 Esther

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

Joel Hastings Metcalf

Discovery site

Taunton, Massachusetts

Discovery date

13 November 1906

Named after

Esther , (biblical figure)

Alternative designations

1906 WP

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner )

Observation arc

109.40 yr (39959 d)

Aphelion

2.9999 AU (448.78 Gm )

Perihelion

1.8313 AU (273.96 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.4156 AU (361.37 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.75 yr (1371.3 d )

Mean anomaly

93.681 °

Mean motion

0° 15 45.072 / day

Inclination

8.6435°

Longitude of ascending node

142.046°

Argument of perihelion

256.687°

Earth moid

0.859795 AU (128.6235 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.48023 AU (371.037 Gm)

via Wikipedia infobox