441 Bathilde

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

8 December 1898

Pronunciation

French: [ batildᵊ ]

Named after

unknown ( Bathilde )

Alternative designations

1898 ED

Minor planet category

Main belt

Observation arc

117.20 yr (42808 d)

Aphelion

3.0266 AU (452.77 Gm )

Perihelion

2.58642 AU (386.923 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.80651 AU (419.848 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.70 yr (1717.3 d )

Mean anomaly

348.249 °

Mean motion

0° 12 34.668 / day

Inclination

8.1476°

Longitude of ascending node

253.585°

Argument of perihelion

201.62°

Earth moid

1.60331 AU (239.852 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.16565 AU (323.977 Gm)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

65.131

Orbital period

1716.747654834199

Image

441Bathilde (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0