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
- Alphonse Borrelly
- Discovery date
- 8 June 1875
- Pronunciation
- / l uː ˈ s aɪ n ə / or as Latin Lūcīna
- Alternative designations
- A875 LC; 1950 CY
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 130.35 yr (47610 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.89945 AU (433.752 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.53641 AU (379.442 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.71793 AU (406.597 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.48 yr (1636.6 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 18.04 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 198.102 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 11.863 / day
- Inclination
- 13.0947°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 83.9692°
- Argument of perihelion
- 146.982°
- Earth moid
- 1.53233 AU (229.233 Gm)
- Jupiter moid
- 2.14062 AU (320.232 Gm)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 160.31
- Mass
- 2.4
- Orbital period
- 1639.149401002333
- Image
- 146Lucina (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A875 LC
- time of discovery or invention
- 1875-06-08
- orbital inclination
- 13.09647403324859
- albedo
- 0.036
- Commons category
- 146 Lucina
- rotation period
- 18.557
- absolute magnitude
- 8.51
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.0645520587873334
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.720696356243178
- periapsis
- 2.545069805112484
- apoapsis
- 2.896322907373871
- longitude of ascending node
- 83.92991490366956
- argument of periapsis
- 145.1380300328253
- mean anomaly
- 227.6890466898743
- time of periapsis
- 2461602.937277401
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
146 Lucina is a main-belt asteroid that was discovered by Alphonse Borrelly on June 8, 1875. It was named after Lucina, the Roman goddess of childbirth. This asteroid is large, dark and has a carbonaceous composition. The spectra of the asteroid displays evidence of aqueous alteration.
This body is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.72 AU with a low eccentricity of 0.07 and an orbital period of 4.48 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 13.1° to the plane of the ecliptic. Photometric observations of this asteroid made during 1979 and 1981 gave a light curve with a period of 18.54 hours.