File:000834-asteroid_shape_model_(834)_Burnhamia.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 20 September 1916
- Pronunciation
- / b ər n ˈ h eɪ m i ə /
- Named after
- Sherburne Wesley Burnham , (American astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- A916 SG · 1959 CA, 1972 JE · A905 UM, 1916 AD · 1905 UM
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
- Observation arc
- 114.27 yr (41,737 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.8256 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5443 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1849 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.68 yr (2,076 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 207.71 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 24.24 / day
- Inclination
- 3.9779°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 182.68°
- Argument of perihelion
- 91.320°
- Mean diameter
- 61.278 ± 0.303 km 61.44 ± 2.13 km 66.65 ± 2.4 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Sherburne Wesley Burnham
- Followed by
- Q157338
- Follows
- Q155960
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- 61.278
- Orbital period
- 2095.181402340209
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Max Wolf
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- A916 SG
- time of discovery or invention
- 1916-09-20
- orbital inclination
- 3.962922636678131
- Commons category
- 834 Burnhamia
- albedo
- 0.071
- rotation period
- 13.875
- asteroid spectral type
- G-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 9.43
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1970031180776462
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.204415342181739
- periapsis
- 2.573135528156088
- apoapsis
- 3.835695156207388
- longitude of ascending node
- 181.5267118291737
- argument of periapsis
- 95.03305871824357
- mean anomaly
- 190.9961940155754
- time of periapsis
- 2461984.0934200645
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
834 Burnhamia (prov. designation: A916 SG or 1916 AD) is a large background asteroid, approximately 61 kilometers (38 miles) in diameter, that is located in the outer region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 20 September 1916, by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The X-type asteroid (GS) has a rotation period of 13.9 hours. It was named after American astronomer Sherburne Wesley Burnham (1838–1921).
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “834 Burnhamia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.