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. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 30 March 1916
- Named after
- unknown
- Alternative designations
- 1916 ZB · 1934 NA 1 , 1934 PV · 1935 SE, 1975 YP
- Minor planet category
- main-belt
- Observation arc
- 80.57 yr (29427 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.2848 AU (491.40 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.9746 AU (444.99 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.1297 AU (468.20 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.54 yr (2022.3 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 284.54 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 40.836 / day
- Inclination
- 5.9337°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 118.47°
- Argument of perihelion
- 193.08°
- Earth moid
- 1.95997 AU (293.207 Gm)
- Jupiter moid
- 1.8749 AU (280.48 Gm)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 58.65
- Orbital period
- 2026.881831893159
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- A916 FJ
- time of discovery or invention
- 1916-03-30
- orbital inclination
- 5.949992250346692
- albedo
- 0.0204
- rotation period
- 12.42
- absolute magnitude
- 10.38
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.05350198540505779
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.134392181466278
- periapsis
- 2.966695976719742
- apoapsis
- 3.302088386212814
- longitude of ascending node
- 118.2627867037033
- argument of periapsis
- 199.2559701122885
- mean anomaly
- 163.1993163126776
- time of periapsis
- 2460081.65075219
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Article
820 Adriana, provisional designation 1916 ZB, is an exceptionally dark asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, about 59 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf at Heidelberg Observatory in southern Germany, on 30 March 1916.
The asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 3.0–3.3 AU once every 5 years and 7 months (2,027 days). Its orbit shows an eccentricity of 0.05 and is tilted by 6 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic. According to the survey carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, IRAS, the asteroid's surface has an extremely low albedo of 0.02. The body's spectral type remains unknown, as does its rotation period.