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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
- Elia Millosevich
- Discovery date
- 1 March 1891
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ j uː n ɪ t æ s /
- Alternative designations
- A891 EA
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 124.78 yr (45575 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.71480 AU (406.128 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.0009 AU (299.33 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.35785 AU (352.729 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.62 yr (1322.4 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 88.9729 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 20.014 / day
- Inclination
- 7.2779°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 141.912°
- Argument of perihelion
- 168.008°
- Dimensions
- 47.20 ± 0.13 km , 52.88 ± 3.48 km
- Mass
- (5.33 ± 5.77) × 10 kg
- Synodic rotation period
- 8.736 h (0.3640 d ) , 8.73875 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 47.2
- Orbital period
- 1322.108608816069
- Image
- 306Unitas (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 15 more facts
- time of discovery or invention
- 1891-03-01
- orbital inclination
- 7.278099382895526
- Commons category
- 306 Unitas
- provisional designation
- A891 EA
- albedo
- 0.201
- rotation period
- 8.736
- absolute magnitude
- 8.76
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1520789728902648
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.357467987936582
- periapsis
- 1.998946677709507
- apoapsis
- 2.715989298163656
- longitude of ascending node
- 141.782069896033
- argument of periapsis
- 167.9214400315152
- mean anomaly
- 294.6193607712229
- time of periapsis
- 2461240.6119610397
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Article
306 Unitas is a typical main belt asteroid that was discovered by Elia Millosevich on 1 March 1891 in Rome. The asteroid was named by the director of the Modena Observatory in honor of the Italian astronomer Angelo Secchi (author of Unità delle forze fisiche) and the unification of Italy.
This object is orbiting the Sun with a distance of 2.36 AU and an eccentricity of 0.15 with an orbital period of 3.62 years. Its orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 7.28° to the plane of the ecliptic. Although 306 Unitas has an orbit similar to the Vesta family asteroids, it was found to be an unrelated interloper on the basis of its non-matching spectral type. Based on infrared measurements, it has a diameter of 47.2 km. It is classified as a stony S-type asteroid.