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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
- Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters
- Discovery date
- 15 June 1866
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ θ ɪ z b iː /
- Named after
- Thisbē
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Thisbean / θ ɪ z ˈ b iː ə n / , / ˈ θ ɪ z b i ə n /
- Aphelion
- 482.242 Gm (3.224 AU)
- Perihelion
- 345.809 Gm (2.312 AU)
- Semi major axis
- 414.025 Gm (2.768 AU)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 1,681.709 d (4.60 yr)
- Mean anomaly
- 165.454°
- Inclination
- 5.219°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 276.765°
- Argument of perihelion
- 36.591°
- Dimensions
- (255×232×193)±12 km
- Mean diameter
- 218 ± 3 km , 225 km , 232 km ( Dunham )
- Mass
- (11.6 ± 2.2) × 10 kg , 18.3 × 10 kg , 1.5 × 10 kg
- Mean density
- 2.14 ± 0.42 g/cm , 3.06 ± 0.52 g/cm
via Wikipedia infobox
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
88 Thisbe is the 13th largest main-belt asteroid. C. H. F. Peters discovered it on 15 June 1866, named after Thisbe, heroine of a Roman fable. This asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.768 AU over a period of 4.60 years and an orbital eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.165. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 5.219° to the ecliptic.
On 7 October 1981, asteroid 88 Thisbe was observed to occult the 9th-magnitude star SAO 187124 from 12 sites. The timing of the different chords across the asteroid provided a diameter estimate of 232±12 km. This is 10% larger than the diameter estimate based on radiometric techniques. During 2000, 88 Thisbe was observed by radar from the Arecibo Observatory. The return signal matched an effective diameter of 207 ± 22 km. This is consistent with the asteroid dimensions computed through other means.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q109954” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.