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
Small body data
(1869) Philoctetes
- Orbit class
- Jupiter Trojan
- Semi-major axis
- 5.169 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.066
- Inclination
- 3.974 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 11.120 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- C. J. van Houten , I. van Houten-G. , T. Gehrels
- Discovery site
- Palomar Obs.
- Discovery date
- 24 September 1960
- Pronunciation
- / f ɪ l ə k ˈ t iː t iː z /
- Named after
- Philoctetes , (Greek mythology)
- Alternative designations
- 4596 P-L
- Minor planet category
- Jupiter trojan , ( Greek camp )
- Observation arc
- 56.61 yr (20,677 days)
- Aphelion
- 5.5755 AU
- Perihelion
- 4.8600 AU
- Semi major axis
- 5.2178 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 11.92 yr (4,353 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 247.19 °
- Inclination
- 3.9745°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 43.984°
- Argument of perihelion
- 321.66°
- Jupiter moid
- 0.0807 AU
- Dimensions
- 22.655 ± 3.404 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Philoctetes
- Followed by
- 1870 Glaukos
- Follows
- 1868 Thersites
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 22.655
- Orbital period
- 4296.239277985078
Show 16 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Palomar–Leiden survey
- site of astronomical discovery
- Palomar Observatory
- provisional designation
- 4596 P-L
- time of discovery or invention
- 1960-09-24
- orbital inclination
- 3.973791457058994
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.0653416142767651
- absolute magnitude
- 11.13
- periapsis
- 4.834069942205725
- apoapsis
- 5.509965945227394
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 5.172017943716559
- mean anomaly
- 134.8659117680803
- longitude of ascending node
- 43.79479138182343
- argument of periapsis
- 324.7881764785311
- albedo
- 0.104
- time of periapsis
- 2459391.0104794465
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1869 Philoctetes /fɪləkˈtiːtiːz/ is a Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 23 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on September 24, 1960, by the Dutch and Dutch–American astronomers Cornelis van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld and Tom Gehrels at Palomar Observatory on Palomar Mountain, California. The asteroid was named after Philoctetes from Greek mythology. On the same night, the same group also discovered 1868 Thersites.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1869 Philoctetes” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.