451 Patientia

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

4 December 1899

Pronunciation

/ p æ t i ˈ ɛ n ʃ ə /

Named after

patience

Alternative designations

1899 EY

Minor planet category

Asteroid belt

Adjectives

Patientian

Observation arc

116.36 yr (42499 d)

Aphelion

3.2929 AU (492.61 Gm ) (Q)

Perihelion

2.8304 AU (423.42 Gm) (q)

Semi major axis

3.0616 AU (458.01 Gm) (a)

Eccentricity

0.075545 (e)

Orbital period sidereal

5.36 yr (1956.7 d )

Mean anomaly

279.30 ° (M)

Mean motion

0° 11 2.328 / day (n)

Inclination

15.236° (i)

Longitude of ascending node

89.252° (Ω)

Argument of perihelion

337.06° (ω)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

452 Hamiltonia

Follows

450 Brigitta

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

253.9

Orbital period

1959.139226446438

via Wikidata · CC0