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. U. Cesco , A. G. Samuel
- Discovery site
- El Leoncito Complex
- Discovery date
- 3 March 1971
- Pronunciation
- / d iː ˈ ɪ f ə b ə s /
- Named after
- Deiphobus (Greek mythology)
- Alternative designations
- 1971 EA
- Minor planet category
- Jupiter trojan , Trojan · Ennomos
- Adjectives
- Deiphobian
- Observation arc
- 46.15 yr (16,858 days)
- Aphelion
- 5.3511 AU
- Perihelion
- 4.9040 AU
- Semi major axis
- 5.1276 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 11.61 yr (4,241 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 229.96 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 5 5.64 / day
- Inclination
- 26.914°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 283.71°
- Argument of perihelion
- 359.19°
via Wikipedia infobox
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1867 Deiphobus /diːˈɪfəbəs/ is a dark Jupiter trojan from the Trojan camp, approximately 123 kilometers (76 mi) in diameter. It was discovered on 3 March 1971, by Argentine astronomers Carlos Cesco and A. G. Samuel at the Leoncito Astronomical Complex in Argentina, and later named after the Trojan prince Deiphobus from Greek mythology. The dark D-type asteroid is one of the largest Jupiter trojans. It is a member of the Ennomos family and has a long rotation period of 58.66 hours.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q144976” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.