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
- C. Jackson
- Discovery site
- Johannesburg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 21 May 1931
- Pronunciation
- / ʃ iː b ə /
- Named after
- Queen of Sheba , (Biblical figure)
- Alternative designations
- 1931 KE · A912 BB
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
- Observation arc
- 105.12 yr (38,396 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.1303 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1806 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6554 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.33 yr (1,581 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 198.47 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 40.08 / day
- Inclination
- 17.652°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 100.84°
- Argument of perihelion
- 262.18°
- Dimensions
- 25.274 ± 0.443 km
via Wikipedia infobox
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1196 Sheba, provisional designation 1931 KE, is a metallic asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 25 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 21 May 1931 by astronomer Cyril Jackson at Johannesburg Observatory, South Africa.
Sheba is a metallic X-type asteroid and orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.2–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 4 months (1,581 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 18° with respect to the ecliptic. It was first identified as A912 BB at Heidelberg Observatory in 1912. The body's observation arc, however, begins at Johannesburg, four months after its official discovery observation.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q136910” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.