495 Eulalia

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

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg Observatory

Discovery date

25 October 1902

Pronunciation

/ j uː ˈ l eɪ l i ə /

Named after

the discoverer's wife's grandmother

Alternative designations

1902 KG

Observation arc

113.10 yr (41309 d)

Aphelion

2.8101 AU (420.38 Gm )

Perihelion

2.1645 AU (323.80 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.4873 AU (372.09 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.92 yr (1432.8 d )

Mean anomaly

5.5120 °

Mean motion

0° 15 4.536 / day

Inclination

2.2795°

Longitude of ascending node

186.478°

Argument of perihelion

206.971°

Mean radius

19.425 ± 0.7 km

Synodic rotation period

28.967 h (1.2070 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

37.287

Orbital period

1432.03896210868

via Wikidata · CC0