2797 Teucer

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

E. Bowell

Discovery site

Anderson Mesa Stn.

Discovery date

4 June 1981

Pronunciation

/ ˈ tj uː s ər /

Named after

Teucer (Greek mythology)

Alternative designations

1981 LK · 1940 YG, 1975 VA 1 · 1975 XQ 2 , 1978 EQ

Minor planet category

Jupiter trojan , Greek · background

Adjectives

Teucerian (Teucrian)

Observation arc

77.40 yr (28,272 d)

Aphelion

5.5519 AU

Perihelion

4.6574 AU

Semi major axis

5.1046 AU

Orbital period sidereal

11.53 yr (4,213 d)

Mean anomaly

173.90 °

Mean motion

0° 5 7.8 / day

Inclination

22.391°

Longitude of ascending node

69.934°

Argument of perihelion

49.042°

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

89.43

Orbital period

4224.597030658751

via Wikidata · CC0