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
- A. Borrelly
- Discovery site
- Marseille Obs.
- Discovery date
- 27 November 1891
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ f iː oʊ /
- Named after
- Φαιώ Phaiō , (Greek mythology)
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Phaeo
- Adjectives
- Phaeoian / f iː ˈ oʊ . i ə n /
- Observation arc
- 126.48 yr (46,198 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.4656 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0960 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7808 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.64 yr (1,694 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 110.49 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 45 / day
- Inclination
- 8.0544°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 252.36°
- Argument of perihelion
- 115.00°
- Mean diameter
- 69.855 ± 0.320 km , 71.88 ± 4.32 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 323 Brucia
- Follows
- 321 Florentina
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 69.855
- Orbital period
- 1696.526959489133
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Alphonse Borrelly
- site of astronomical discovery
- Marseille Observatory
- time of discovery or invention
- 1891-11-27
- asteroid spectral type
- X-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 8.045606264374516
- albedo
- 0.089
- provisional designation
- A891 WB
- rotation period
- 17.5845
- absolute magnitude
- 9.15
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2440286760952971
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.783822617684523
- periapsis
- 2.104490069806825
- apoapsis
- 3.463155165562222
- longitude of ascending node
- 252.2822498850483
- argument of periapsis
- 114.9150733261885
- mean anomaly
- 345.0154285110925
- time of periapsis
- 2461071.115915298
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
322 Phaeo is an asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 70 kilometers (43 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 27 November 1891, by French astronomer Alphonse Borrelly at the Marseille Observatory in southern France. The presumably metallic X-type asteroid is the principal body of the Phaeo family and has a rotation period of 17.6 hours. It was named for the Greek mythological figure Phaeo, one of the Hyades or nymphs. Several other asteroids were named for other of the Hyades – 193 Ambrosia, 158 Koronis, 217 Eudora, and 308 Polyxo.
References
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q151056” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.