191 Kolga

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

C. H. F. Peters

Discovery date

30 September 1878

Pronunciation

/ ˈ k ɒ l ɡ ə /

Named after

Kólga

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

131.26 yr (47942 d)

Aphelion

3.1588 AU (472.55 Gm )

Perihelion

2.6313 AU (393.64 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.8951 AU (433.10 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.93 yr (1799.2 d )

Mean anomaly

326.28 °

Mean motion

0° 12 0.288 / day

Inclination

11.508°

Longitude of ascending node

159.31°

Argument of perihelion

227.00°

Earth moid

1.64648 AU (246.310 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.29413 AU (343.197 Gm)

Dimensions

( 134.3 ± 12.8 ) × ( 78.2 ± 1.7 ) km

via Wikipedia infobox