499 Venusia

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

Discovery date

24 December 1902

Pronunciation

/ v ɪ ˈ nj uː ʃ i ə /

Alternative designations

1902 KX

Observation arc

113.31 yr (41388 d)

Aphelion

4.8693 AU (728.44 Gm )

Perihelion

3.1479 AU (470.92 Gm)

Semi major axis

4.0086 AU (599.68 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

8.03 yr (2931.4 d )

Mean anomaly

149.18 °

Mean motion

0° 7 22.116 / day

Inclination

2.0907°

Longitude of ascending node

256.245°

Argument of perihelion

174.952°

Mean radius

40.69 ± 1.65 km

Synodic rotation period

13.48 h (0.562 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0468 ± 0.004

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Ven

Followed by

500 Selinur

Follows

498 Tokio

Parent body

Sun

Diameter

77.328

Orbital period

2938.795254184392

Image

499Venusia (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0