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
- S. I. Bailey
- Discovery site
- Boyden Stn.(Arequipa)
- Discovery date
- 30 June 1902
- Named after
- Mama Qura , second queen of the Kingdom of Cuzco
- Alternative designations
- 1902 LK · 1947 OH
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
- Observation arc
- 110.44 yr (40,337 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.3127 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1296 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7212 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.49 yr (1,640 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 147.01 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 10.56 / day
- Inclination
- 12.888°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 104.63°
- Argument of perihelion
- 247.92°
- Dimensions
- 27.19 ± 1.00 km , 29.06 km (derived) , 30.02 ± 2.3 km ( IRAS :40) , 30.39 ± 0.35 km , 30.438 ± 0.298 , 34.994 ± 0.490 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 7.588 ± 0.003 h , 7.5882 ± 0.0043 h , 7.591 ± 0.001 h , 7.5915 ± 0.0043 , 24.06 h (dated)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 505 Cava
- Follows
- Q154961
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 30.438
- Orbital period
- 1640.13190410276
Show 17 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Solon Irving Bailey
- provisional designation
- A902 NB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1902-06-30
- orbital inclination
- 12.90641088657674
- albedo
- 0.239
- rotation period
- 7.587
- asteroid spectral type
- X-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 10.13
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.217054284449609
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.72178343455086
- periapsis
- 2.131008678737624
- apoapsis
- 3.312558190364096
- longitude of ascending node
- 104.4262841902444
- argument of periapsis
- 248.4603123798469
- mean anomaly
- 128.364743650368
- time of periapsis
- 2460415.680246047
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
504 Cora, provisional designation 1902 LK, is a metallic asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 30 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by American astronomer Solon Bailey at Harvard's Boyden Station in Arequipa, Peru, on 30 June 1902. It was later named after Cora, a figure in Inca mythology.
Classification and orbit
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q154972” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.