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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 20 September 1903
- Pronunciation
- / æ θ ə ˈ l aɪ ə /
- Named after
- Athaliah , (ancient queen consort )
- Alternative designations
- 1903 ME · 1931 TQ, 1937 WO · 1937 WQ, 1937 WR · 1937 YH, 1953 TD · 1974 QA 3 , 1977 CF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Themis
- Observation arc
- 113.79 yr (41,562 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.6671 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5797 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1234 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.52 yr (2,016 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 178.72 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 42.96 / day
- Inclination
- 2.0376°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 121.11°
- Argument of perihelion
- 300.16°
- Dimensions
- 32.75 ± 10.79 km , 33.47 ± 10.06 km , 38.22 km (SIMPS) , 38.80 ± 0.66 km , 39.76 ± 1.38 km , 41.190 ± 0.146 km , 43.0 ± 0.2 km , 45.280 ± 0.399 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Athaliah
- Followed by
- 516 Amherstia
- Follows
- 514 Armida
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 41.19
- Orbital period
- 2011.335785016215
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Max Wolf
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1977 CF
- time of discovery or invention
- 1903-09-20
- orbital inclination
- 2.039097450949429
- albedo
- 0.039
- rotation period
- 10.636
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 10.95
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.177238181447103
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.118344572563415
- periapsis
- 2.565654851396832
- apoapsis
- 3.671034293729998
- longitude of ascending node
- 121.0815342411173
- argument of periapsis
- 300.522829567513
- mean anomaly
- 354.8040891164597
- time of periapsis
- 2461029.529781933
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
515 Athalia, provisional designation 1903 ME, is a carbonaceous Themistian asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 40 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 20 September 1903, by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after the ancient Judahite queen Athaliah.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “515 Athalia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.