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
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 2 August 1904
- Pronunciation
- German: [ paːmiːnaː ]
- Alternative designations
- 1904 OL
- Observation arc
- 111.70 yr (40800 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3207 AU (496.77 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.1569 AU (322.67 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.7388 AU (409.72 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.53 yr (1,655.6 d) 4.53 yr (1655.6 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 216.44 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 2.82 / day
- Inclination
- 6.7963°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 274.312°
- Argument of perihelion
- 97.453°
- Mean radius
- 26.985 ± 1.7 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 13.903 h (0.5793 d )
- Geometric albedo
- 0.0800 ± 0.011
via Wikipedia infobox
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
539 Pamina is a minor planet orbiting the Sun in the main belt. It is named for the heroine of Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute. This asteroid was discovered by M. Wolf in 1904 at the Heidelberg observatory in Germany. It is orbiting at a distance of 2.74 AU from the Sun, with an orbital eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.212 and a period of 4.53 yr. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 6.8° to the ecliptic.
Photometric observations of this asteroid taken in 2004 provided a light curve showing a rotation period of 13.903±0.001 h with a brightness amplitude of 0.10±0.01 in magnitude. Infrared measurements give a diameter estimate of 54±3 km.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q155333” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.