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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 , 1879
- Discovery date
- 21 March 1879
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ p r ɒ k n iː /
- Named after
- Procne
- Alternative designations
- A879 FA
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Proknean / p r ɒ k ˈ n iː ə n /
- Observation arc
- 136.76 yr (49950 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.2386 AU (484.49 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.9930 AU (298.15 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.6158 AU (391.32 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.23 yr (1545.3 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 42.282 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 58.692 / day
- Inclination
- 18.509°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 159.32°
- Argument of perihelion
- 163.24°
- Earth moid
- 0.986917 AU (147.6407 Gm)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 161.667
- Orbital period
- 1547.414739924095
Show 15 more facts
- time of discovery or invention
- 1879-03-21
- albedo
- 0.057
- Commons category
- 194 Prokne
- provisional designation
- A879 FA
- rotation period
- 15.679
- absolute magnitude
- 7.85
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.237186209798765
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.618216376871213
- periapsis
- 1.997211558008075
- apoapsis
- 3.239221195734351
- orbital inclination
- 18.51167071951213
- longitude of ascending node
- 159.1911437365666
- argument of periapsis
- 163.47249720486
- mean anomaly
- 114.1373323995845
- time of periapsis
- 2460509.8950263034
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Article
194 Prokne is a main-belt asteroid that was discovered by German-American astronomer C. H. F. Peters on March 21, 1879, in Clinton, New York. It was named after Procne, the sister of Philomela in Greek mythology. Stellar occultations by Prokne have been observed twice, in 1984 from Italy and again in 1999 from Iowa (United States).
This asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.62 AU with a moderate eccentricity of 0.238 and an orbital period of 4.23 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 18.5° to the plane of the ecliptic.