2732 Witt

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

19 March 1926

Named after

Carl Gustav Witt , (German astronomer)

Alternative designations

1926 FG · 1935 DF, 1965 UP 1 · 1969 RD, 1978 PQ 1 · 1979 YL 6

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , Witt

Observation arc

92.02 yr (33,612 d)

Aphelion

2.8250 AU

Perihelion

2.6961 AU

Semi major axis

2.7606 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.59 yr (1,675 d)

Mean anomaly

129.05 °

Mean motion

0° 12 53.64 / day

Inclination

6.4925°

Longitude of ascending node

145.08°

Argument of perihelion

276.05°

Mean diameter

11.001 ± 0.291 km

Geometric albedo

0.305 ± 0.022

via Wikipedia infobox