Image by bernswaelz on Pixabay · Pixabay License
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
- Max Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 18 March 1892
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ ɡ ʊ d r uː n /
- Named after
- Gudrun
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 104.41 yr (38135 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.43998 AU (514.614 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.78126 AU (416.071 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.11062 AU (465.342 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.486 yr (2,003.9 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 325.246 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 46.747 / day
- Inclination
- 16.1164°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 352.328°
- Argument of perihelion
- 103.924°
- Dimensions
- 122.92 ± 5.2 km , 122.59 ± 3.72 km
- Mass
- (3.16 ± 0.46) × 10 kg
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 145.68
- Orbital period
- 2002.731069801042
- Image
- 000328-asteroid shape model (328) Gudrun.png
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A892 FF
- time of discovery or invention
- 1892-03-18
- orbital inclination
- 16.13136538759086
- Commons category
- 328 Gudrun
- albedo
- 0.025
- rotation period
- 10.992
- absolute magnitude
- 9.01
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1077590447202675
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.109444472209603
- periapsis
- 2.77437370627358
- apoapsis
- 3.444515238145626
- longitude of ascending node
- 351.8589966406215
- argument of periapsis
- 107.6448979863793
- mean anomaly
- 212.6814118846526
- time of periapsis
- 2461820.054204383
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
328 Gudrun is a large main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf on March 18, 1892, in Heidelberg. This minor planet is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 3.11 AU with a period of 5.486 yr and an orbital eccentricity of 0.106. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 16.1° to the plane of the ecliptic.
Analysis of the light curve generated from photometric data collected in March 2012 provide a rotation period estimate of 10.992±0.002 h with a brightness variation of 0.32±0.02 in B magnitude. A study in 2022 found a classification of Cgh for 328 Gudrun, suggesting this is a dark, carbonaceous asteroid.