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
- Max Wolf , Luigi Carnera
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 26 June 1902
- Pronunciation
- / k r iː ˈ uː s ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1902 JG, 1947 KH, 1977 YD, A901 CA, A905 XA
- Minor planet category
- Asteroid belt
- Observation arc
- 115.18 yr (42068 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.67325 AU (549.510 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.66507 AU (398.689 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.16916 AU (474.100 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.64 yr (2060.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 197.66463 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 28.913 / day
- Inclination
- 11.517875°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 84.23348°
- Argument of perihelion
- 71.36554°
- Mean radius
- 75.065 ± 3.2 km , 81.16 ± 4.77 km
- Mass
- (2.48 ± 1.14) × 10 kg
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Creusa
- Followed by
- 489 Comacina
- Follows
- 487 Venetia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 168.117
- Orbital period
- 2058.938043279558
Show 20 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Luigi Carnera
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- A902 MC
- time of discovery or invention
- 1902-06-26
- orbital inclination
- 11.47607542738327
- rotation period
- 32.645
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- apparent magnitude
- 13.06
- Commons category
- 488 Kreusa
- albedo
- 0.047
- absolute magnitude
- 7.88
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1584435122477827
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.167353726173293
- periapsis
- 2.665507077267295
- apoapsis
- 3.669200375079291
- longitude of ascending node
- 82.9817009664122
- argument of periapsis
- 77.2808577962704
- mean anomaly
- 65.80698483773605
- time of periapsis
- 2460624.131931678
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
488 Kreusa is a C-type asteroid orbiting the Sun in the asteroid belt, with the type indicating a surface with a low albedo and high carbonaceous content. The spectra of the asteroid displays evidence of aqueous alteration.
In 2002, Kreusa was detected by radar from the Arecibo Observatory at a distance of 1.67 AU. The resulting data yielded an effective diameter of 150±21 km.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q154811” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.