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
- Johann Palisa
- Discovery date
- 27 June 1884
- Pronunciation
- / ˌ s ɛ l ə ˈ s t iː n ə , - ˈ s t aɪ n ə / SEL -ə- STEE -nə, - STY -nə
- Alternative designations
- A884 MA
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 131.81 yr (48143 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.96365 AU (443.356 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.56551 AU (383.795 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.76458 AU (413.575 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.597 yr (1,679.0 d)
- Average orbital speed
- 17.92 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 253.418 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 51.905 / day
- Inclination
- 9.74247°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 84.3141°
- Argument of perihelion
- 199.113°
- Dimensions
- 41.08 ± 1.4 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 29.215 h (1.2173 d)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 238 Hypatia
- Follows
- 236 Honoria
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 41.08
- Orbital period
- 1675.955606143808
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Johann Palisa
- site of astronomical discovery
- Vienna Observatory
- time of discovery or invention
- 1884-06-27
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 9.762155782325047
- Commons category
- 237 Coelestina
- provisional designation
- A884 MA
- albedo
- 0.2108
- rotation period
- 29.215
- absolute magnitude
- 9.16
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.07437817955537254
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.761273271984485
- periapsis
- 2.555894792759372
- apoapsis
- 2.966651751209598
- longitude of ascending node
- 84.13050917450958
- argument of periapsis
- 202.0540425199987
- mean anomaly
- 259.95229243645
- time of periapsis
- 2461466.2653232585
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
237 Coelestina is a stony main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on 27 June 1884 in Vienna and was named after Coelestine, wife of astronomer Theodor von Oppolzer. This minor planet is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.76 AU with a low eccentricity of 0.072 and an orbital period of 4.60 yr. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 9.74° to the plane of the ecliptic.
Photometric data collected during March 2021 was used the generate a lightcurve for 237 Coelestina. This showed a rotation period of 29.062±0.009 h with a brightness variation of 0.24 magnitude.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “237 Coelestina” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.