474640 Alicanto

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

474640 Alicanto (2004 VN112)

Orbit class

TransNeptunian Object

Absolute magnitude

6.460 H

Earth MOID

46.400 AU

Semi-major axis

341.307 AU

Eccentricity

0.861

Inclination

25.510 °

via NASA/JPL Small-Body Database · Minor Planet Center

Wikidata facts

Instance of

extreme trans-Neptunian object

Named after

Alicanto

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

trans-Neptunian object

Diameter

130

Orbital period

2358687.762322455

via Wikidata · CC0