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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
- N. R. Pogson
- Discovery date
- 6 February 1885
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ v ɪər ə /
- Alternative designations
- A885 CA, 1919 HB
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 131.06 yr (47,869 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.70600 AU (554.410 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.50409 AU (374.607 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.10504 AU (464.507 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.47 yr (1,998.5 d)
- Average orbital speed
- 16.93 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 120.926 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 48.493 / day
- Inclination
- 5.15859°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 61.2968°
- Argument of perihelion
- 329.674°
- Dimensions
- 79.50 ± 3.2 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 14.38 h (0.599 d )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 75.949
- Orbital period
- 1988.870239087751
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A885 CA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1885-02-06
- orbital inclination
- 5.179189068895957
- Commons category
- 245 Vera
- albedo
- 0.228
- rotation period
- 14.38
- absolute magnitude
- 7.96
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1975758913399179
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.095080968746911
- periapsis
- 2.483567587577524
- apoapsis
- 3.706594349916299
- longitude of ascending node
- 61.03187517849327
- argument of periapsis
- 332.0107024349413
- mean anomaly
- 12.75019010703843
- time of periapsis
- 2460930.059795426
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
245 Vera is a large Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by N. R. Pogson on February 6, 1885, in Madras, and was named at the suggestion of his wife. The asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 3.11 AU with a period of 5.47 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.19. The orbital plane is tilted at an angle of 5.16° to the plane of the ecliptic. In 1890, Daniel Kirkwood noted that this asteroid shares similar orbital elements with 86 Semele and 106 Dione.
Photometric measurements of this asteroid made during 1980–1981 were used to produce a light curve that demonstrated a rotation period of 14.38±0.03 h with a brightness variation of 0.26±0.01 in magnitude. It is classified as a stony S-type asteroid in the Tholen system. The asteroid has an estimated diameter of 75.95±2.63 km based on near infrared observations.