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
- F. Kaiser
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 28 August 1913
- Named after
- Adam Massinger (1888–1914) , (German astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- A913 QD · 1941 SL 2 , 1913 SL
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
- Observation arc
- 106.27 yr (38,816 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.8806 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4122 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1464 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.58 yr (2,039 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 176.77 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 35.76 / day
- Inclination
- 12.539°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 331.55°
- Argument of perihelion
- 200.56°
- Dimensions
- 80.2 km × 56.2 km
- Mean diameter
- 69.103 ± 7.046 km 70.03 ± 1.25 km 71.29 ± 1.9 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Adam Massinger
- Followed by
- Q156983
- Follows
- 759 Vinifera
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 71.29
- Orbital period
- 2039.455234667488
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Franz Kaiser
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- A913 QD
- time of discovery or invention
- 1913-08-28
- albedo
- 0.2276
- rotation period
- 10.72
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 7.88
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2344974468982238
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.147341248088223
- periapsis
- 2.409297760894066
- apoapsis
- 3.885384735282381
- orbital inclination
- 12.54216344189041
- longitude of ascending node
- 331.5264787877598
- argument of periapsis
- 200.2458645427687
- mean anomaly
- 170.0897972183406
- time of periapsis
- 2460036.915201943
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
760 Massinga (prov. designation: A913 QD or 1913 SL) is a large background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 70 kilometers (43 miles) in diameter. It was discovered by German astronomer Franz Kaiser at the Heidelberg Observatory on 28 August 1913. The stony S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 10.7 hours and is somewhat elongated in shape. It was named in memory of Adam Massinger (1888–1914), a German astronomer at Heidelberg who was killed in World War I.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q156976” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.