Image by JORGE51 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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 22 August 1892
- Pronunciation
- / b ə ˈ d iː n i ə /
- Named after
- Grand Duchy of Baden , (Großherzogtum Baden)
- Alternative designations
- A892 QA · 1930 JD, 1932 TC · 1936 QQ, 1937 VB · 1950 BP 1 , A895 DC · A911 CA, 1892 A
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
- Observation arc
- 127.45 yr (46,551 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.6300 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6314 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1307 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.54 yr (2,023 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 20.070 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 40.44 / day
- Inclination
- 3.7393°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 353.16°
- Argument of perihelion
- 22.785°
- Mean diameter
- 69.73 ± 2.80 km 72.199 ± 0.259 km 78.17 ± 1.9 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Baden
- Followed by
- 334 Chicago
- Follows
- 332 Siri
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 72.199
- Orbital period
- 2022.307226393089
- Image
- 000333-asteroid shape model (333) Badenia.png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Max Wolf
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- A911 CA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1892-08-22
- orbital inclination
- 3.738775441754409
- Commons category
- 333 Badenia
- albedo
- 0.047
- rotation period
- 9.862
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 9.59
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1597628633967578
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.129674259078636
- periapsis
- 2.629668537949106
- apoapsis
- 3.629679980208165
- longitude of ascending node
- 353.1186164788372
- argument of periapsis
- 23.39310403538408
- mean anomaly
- 15.1133990496516
- time of periapsis
- 2460915.6001774627
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
333 Badenia (/bəˈdiːniə/ bə-DEE-nee-ə; prov. designation: A892 QA or 1892 A) is a large background asteroid, approximately 72 kilometers (45 miles) in diameter, located the outer region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 22 August 1892, by astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 9.9 hours. It was named after the historical Grand Duchy of Baden that existed until 1918, and where the discovering observatory is located. Badenia was the first asteroid to receive a provisional designation.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “333 Badenia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.