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
- 23 September 1916
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ dʒ oʊ l iː / JOH -lee
- Named after
- Iole wife of Heracles , ( Greek mythology )
- Alternative designations
- A916 SJ · A903 QA, 1916 AF · 1903 QA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , background
- Observation arc
- 116.07 yr (42,394 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.5751 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.8048 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.1900 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.24 yr (1,184 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 340.45 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 18 14.76 / day
- Inclination
- 4.8449°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 199.76°
- Argument of perihelion
- 179.78°
- Mean diameter
- 5.757 ± 0.062 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 5.757
- Orbital period
- 1183.763345416625
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- A916 SJ
- time of discovery or invention
- 1916-09-23
- orbital inclination
- 4.845191247893998
- albedo
- 0.194
- rotation period
- 9.615
- absolute magnitude
- 13.34
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1763067037033688
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.190000971627606
- periapsis
- 1.803889119212768
- apoapsis
- 2.576112824042444
- longitude of ascending node
- 199.7356180004784
- argument of periapsis
- 179.7578216905177
- mean anomaly
- 228.7060497453934
- time of periapsis
- 2461432.224904962
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Article
836 Jole (prov. designation: A916 SJ or 1916 AF) is a bright background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 23 September 1916, by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The stony S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 9.6 hours and measures approximately 5.8 kilometers (3.6 miles) in diameter. It was named after Iole, wife of Heracles from Greek mythology.
Orbit and classification