355 Gabriella

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 date

20 January 1893

Named after

Gabrielle Flammarion

Alternative designations

1893 E

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

123.23 yr (45008 d)

Aphelion

2.80813 AU (420.090 Gm )

Perihelion

2.26681 AU (339.110 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.53747 AU (379.600 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.04 yr (1476.4 d )

Mean anomaly

210.870 °

Mean motion

0° 14 37.82 / day

Inclination

4.28364°

Longitude of ascending node

351.825°

Argument of perihelion

105.626°

Dimensions

22.79 ± 1.1 km

Synodic rotation period

4.830 h (0.2013 d )

Geometric albedo

0.2353 ± 0.023

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Gabrielle Renaudot Flammarion

Followed by

356 Liguria

Follows

354 Eleonora

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

24.04

Orbital period

1475.809230754793

Image

355Gabriella (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0