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
- Auguste Charlois
- Discovery site
- Nice
- Discovery date
- 5 March 1891
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ n aɪ k iː /
- Named after
- Nike
- Alternative designations
- A891 EB; 1957 LM
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 125.12 yr (45699 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3226 AU (497.05 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.4899 AU (372.48 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.9063 AU (434.78 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.95 yr (1809.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 170.550 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 56.148 / day
- Inclination
- 6.1260°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 100.966°
- Argument of perihelion
- 324.764°
- Dimensions
- 54.96 ± 3.3 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 61.313
- Orbital period
- 1810.080588446539
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- A891 EB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1891-03-05
- orbital inclination
- 6.12853950321144
- albedo
- 0.043
- rotation period
- 11.857
- absolute magnitude
- 10.06
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1429512995011286
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.906696288367011
- periapsis
- 2.491180276689839
- apoapsis
- 3.322212300044182
- longitude of ascending node
- 100.864153303196
- argument of periapsis
- 323.3631705595769
- mean anomaly
- 128.2338886103732
- time of periapsis
- 2460355.739798459
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
307 Nike is a sizeable asteroid of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by the French astronomer Auguste Charlois on 5 March 1891 while working at the Nice Observatory. Charlois named it after the Greek goddess of victory, as well as the Greek name for the city where it was discovered.
This object is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.91 AU with an eccentricity of 0.14 with an orbital period of 4.95 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 6.13° relative to the plane of the ecliptic. It is classified as a carbon-rich C-type asteroid. Infrared measurements yield a diameter of 55 km.