298 Baptistina

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

Auguste Charlois

Discovery site

Nice , France

Discovery date

9 September 1890

Alternative designations

A890 RB

Minor planet category

Main belt Baptistina family

Observation arc

123.99 years

Aphelion

2.049 AU

Perihelion

2.049 AU

Semi major axis

2.264 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.407 years

Mean anomaly

113.57°

Mean motion

0° 17 21.588 / day

Inclination

6.279°

Longitude of ascending node

8.112°

Argument of perihelion

134.99°

Earth moid

1.065 AU

Jupiter moid

2.525 AU

Dimensions

13–30 km (8.1–18.6 mi)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

299 Thora

Follows

297 Caecilia

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

21.135

Orbital period

1244.391898215943

Image

298Bap-LB1-mag15.jpg

via Wikidata · CC0